The King George & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 26, 1975 was soon dubbed the ‘Race of the Century’. The mile-and-a-half contest featured a stellar field, including Dahlia, who had won the race is both 1973 and 1974, Dibidale, who had won the Irish Oaks the previous season, and Star Appeal, who had already won the Eclipse Stakes and would go on to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
However, despite the strength of the opposition, the race developed into a showdown between Grundy, trained by Peter Walwyn and ridden by Pat Eddery, and Bustino, trained by Dick Hern and ridden by Joe Mercer. Grundy had won both the Derby and the Irish Derby in taking style, while Bustino, who had won the St. Leger as a three-year-old, had broken the course record when winning the Coronation Cup – run over the same course and distance as the Derby – en route to Ascot.
In an effort to expose any stamina deficiencies in his main rival, Hern employed not one but two pacemakers, Highest and Kinglet, who took the field along at a blistering gallop for the first mile of so. Rounding the home turn, Kinglet finally capitulated, and at the top of the home straight – which, at Ascot, is just two and half furlongs long – Bustino held a definite advantage over Grundy.
Approaching the final furlong, it became clear that the pair had the race between them, but it was not until the final 150 yards that Grundy, the three-year-old, put his head in front. Even when he did, Bustino, the four-year-old, rallied under maximum pressure and looked, momentarily, like he might get back up. He didn’t, though, and Grundy passed the post half a length to the good, in a time of 2:26.98, thereby smashing the course record.