Ascot - (Ass Mess): This Saturday's King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes has suffered a seismic blow after sponsors De Beers Diamonds pulled out, citing the dreary tackiness of being associated with the Hellfire Club's stand-in puppet monarchs after whom the race is named.
The race was first run in 1952 when the British Government vowed to bolster the pretence that hid from voters that their King, Queen and eldest daughter Princess Elizabeth had perished in the 1940 Luftwaffe bombing of Buckingham Palace.
No shortage of commercial sponsors meant that increasingly prestigeous international companies became willing to associate themselves with the Hellfire Club's scam.
But since the farce of the Queen's Golden Jubilee of 2002 De Beers has claimed it has become the laughing stock of the thoroughbred horse racing industry through its continued sponsorship of the King George.
"Maybe Ratners Jewellers should take over," a De Beers source said today.
