ASCOT racegoers remain at heart a horse-loving tribe, so their reaction to George Washington’s triumph in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Saturday was instructive. Loud cheers that invariably greet a close finish gave way to spontaneous applause at the colt’s tour de force. It was almost as if the Queen was leading out the procession at the royal fixture.

Few racehorses polarise opinion quite like George Washington but now there is no doubt. The son of Danehill is an outstanding athlete who has returned from serious injury to dominate his peers.

Gone is the adolescent yob of the spring. In his place is a more mature character who disappointed the “horse whisperer” brought in by television to analyse his pre-race behaviour. There was simply nothing to say. Gorgeous George has grown up. The only impression he leaves these days is the intoxicating whiff of brilliance.

Too much has been made of his temperament. He certainly has his foibles, yet none are on a scale — or indeed of sufficient magnitude — to have spawned so many redundant words. More has been written about his refusal to enter the winner’s circle at Newmarket than is worthy of an incidental detail that bears no relevance to his worth as a racehorse.

The real story behind George Washington is the remarkable skill with which Aidan O’Brien and his team have nurtured a plainly difficult customer to deliver in late September the brilliance he had unleashed back in early May — and before that, through a two-year-old campaign that was freakishly good.

Pity poor O’Brien. The man who has spent the whole summer detoxing George Washington of some mild poisons was now required to amplify his victory with words. Rather than eulogies, which he said he was keen to avoid lest some should dismiss it as hype, he addressed the subject in another way.

“It is human nature to be critical of things,” O’Brien mused, “and it is easy to do that to a horse like him because he is unusual in many ways. But it is his brilliance that makes him like that. I mean, look at him today. He basically did a half-speed gallop to win a group one race. You don’t see those kind of things very often.”

The sad thing is that we are unlikely to see George Washington again in Europe. While not ruling out a four-year-old campaign, O’Brien alluded to it when he said: “He could suffer an injury that may mean we lose his genes altogether. His are quite different to any others, so it’s a big risk.” The Breeders’ Cup Mile will almost certainly be his swansong.

There was another welcome dimension to this triumph. With Killybegs in fourth behind George Washington and Araafa, the much-maligned classic crop excelled in the wake of Ouija Board’s Irish Champion Stakes defeat by Dylan Thomas. O’Brien confirmed that Dylan Thomas would run next on dirt in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on October 7, when John Velasquez will ride.

However, there was a sting in the tail for O’Brien and his team. Seamus Heffernan, who rode George Washington’s stablemate Ivan Denisovich, was handed a 14-day ban for improper riding after the stewards deemed Heffernan had employed “team tactics” when interfering with Librettist on the home turn.Whether Heffernan acted on the spur of the moment or with premeditation, only he knows.