Unraced as a juvenile and the winner of two of his five starts as three-year-old, including an unremarkable renewal of the Group Three Gordon Stakes at Goodwood, but nonetheless blossomed into an outstanding middle-distance performer in his curtailed four-year-old campaign. Indeed, he won John Porter Stakes at Newbury and the Ormonde Stakes at Chester – both Group Three contests – followed by the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot before making a mockery of the opposition in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, over the same course and distance, on his first attempt at Group One level, the following month.
The King George featured a small, but select, field, which included Derby-winning stablemate Workforce, for whom he was forsaken by regular partner Ryan Moore, Irish Derby winner
Capo Blanco and Youmzain, who had finished second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Pushed into the lead by jockey Olivier Peslier inside the final quarter-of-mile, the son of Dansili was soon well clear and ran on strongly for an impressive, 11-length win from Cape Blanco. He was awarded a Timeform rating of 140, making him the joint-eighth highest-rated Flat horse in the history of that organisation, alongside such luminaries as Shergar, Dancing Brave and Sea The Stars, to name but three.
Spokesman for owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing. Harry Herbert, later hailed his victory as ‘one of the greatest performances of all time’. However, less than a fortnight later, Harbinger suffered a leg fracture while exercising on the gallops at Freemason Lodge, the home of his trainer Sir Michael Stoute, in Newmarket, Suffolk. He underwent a life-saving operation, but no sooner had he shot to prominence in the middle-distance division than his career was over. At the time of his retirement, he was short-priced favourite for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, so who knows what he might have achieved had fate not intervened.