The race attracted a field of twelve runners, seven trained in the United Kingdom, two in France, two in Ireland and one in Japan. The favourite was the Henry Cecil-trained Oh So Sharp, a three-year-old filly owned by the Sheikh Mohammed who had won the 1000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks. The Irish challengers were Law Society who had finished second in the Epsom Derby before winning the Irish Derby, and Princess Pati the winner of the 1984 Irish Oaks. France was represented by the former Australian Horse of the YearStrawberry Road and Treizieme, a filly who had won the Grand Criterium in 1983. The Japanese challenger was the three-year-old Sirius Symboli, winner of the Japanese Derby. Apart from Oh So Sharp, the best of the British-trained runners appeared to be the Coronation Cup winner Rainbow Quest and Petoski, who had recovered from a poor run in the Derby to win the Princess of Wales's Stakes and who was expected to be suited by the prevailing firm ground. The other runners were Crazy, Raft and Infantry. A notable absentee was the Derby winnerSlip Anchor who had been an intended runner before he was ruled out with a leg injury. Oh So Sharp headed the betting at odds of 4/5 ahead of Law Society with Strawberry Road, Petoski and Rainbow Quest next in the betting at 12/1.
The race
As expected, August took the lead shortly after the start and set a very fast pace from Infantry. The pacemaker weakened with half a mile to run and was overtaken by Infantry, who led the field into the straight ahead of Oh So Sharp and Rainbow Quest on the outside, with Petoski making progress along the rail. Oh So Sharp took the lead with a furlong to run but was immediately challenged by Rainbow Quest as Willie Carson switched left on Petoski to make his challenge on the outside. The favourite successfully repelled the challenge of Rainbow Quest but was caught in the final strides by Petoski who won by a neck with three-quarters of a length back to Rainbow Quest in third place. Law Society finished strongly to take fourth from Raft and Strawberry Road with a gap of four lengths back to the weakening Infantry in seventh. There were further gaps back to Sirius Symboli, Trezieme, Crazy and Princess Pati, with August finishing last. The winning time of 2:26.71 was the second fastest in the race's history up to that time behind Grundy's 2:26.98 in 1975.
Race details
Sponsor: De Beers
First prize: £134,274
Surface: Turf
Going: Firm
Distance: 12 furlongs
Number of runners: 12
Winner's time: 2:27.61
Full result
Abbreviations: nse = nose; nk = neck; shd = head; hd = head; dist = distance; UR = unseated rider
