Cirrus des Aigles heads eight Betfair King George runners

Cirrus des Aigles returns in triumph after his 2011 QIPCO Champion Stakes victory – can he taste more Ascot glory on Saturday? Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

Although the sad withdrawal of St Nicholas Abbey after a career-ending injury on the gallops on Tuesday has taken some of the gloss off the race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (sponsored by Betfair), race five in the Middle Distance division of the QIPCO British Champions Series, still has an eight-strong field packed full of quality with one horse dominating.

French superstar Cirrus des Aigles is certain to start hot favourite and on ratings and fantastic past performances at Ascot, it is very hard to see what can beat him, especially as his trainer says he’s in the form of his life right now.

He is now the highest-rated turf horse in the world having won the QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot in 2011 and made the world’s best ever horse, Frankel, pull out all the stops in last year’s renewal.

Just two question marks can be raised against him on Saturday – is he quite as good over the King George trip of a mile and a half as he is over a mile and a quarter and will the ground suit him?

There’s no denying that his best performances have come over ten furlong s, but he has won over Saturday’s 12 furlongs (and even 13 furlongs) so that should not be a major issue.

Ground-wise, his best performances have been on soft or heavy going, but his trainer, Corine Barande-Barbe, has always said that’s just because he handles those conditions well and some of his rivals do not.

He has won on fast ground when pocketing almost £2m in the Dubai Sheema Classic, so again this should not be too big an issue, though he is injury prone and very firm ground would certainly not be ideal.

German star Novellist beat Cirrus des Aigles by over four lengths in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France last month, but the latter hadn’t raced for eight months. He simply needed the race and his trainer is sure he will turn that form around.

Moreover, Novellist has never encountered fast ground before, so that is a big concern as his breeding suggests that he is best on soft. Thunderstorms could have an impact on Saturday’s ground, of course, and his trainer, Andreas Wohler, will be hoping that plenty of rain falls.

The Mark Johnston-trained Universal is improving but has a lot more to find, Red Cadeaux has been disappointing since his good run in Dubai in March – if he came back to form, he might have place claims – while Very Nice Name, a Qatari raider that is currently being trained in France, is a bit of an unknown quantity.

He ran very well to finish thid to St Nicholas Abbey in this year’s Dubai Sheema Classic, by far and away the best run of his career, and if he has progrossed since then he should not be under-estimated.

The Roger Varian-trained Ektihaam has come into his own this year.

He ran the brilliant Al Kazeem close first time out and then bolted up over Saturday’s course and distance, beating Thomas Chippendale by six lengths in May.

They met again over the same distance at Royal Ascot, but Ektihaam slipped when travelling strongly in front and Thomas Chippendale won.

On his form on fast ground this year, he looks the biggest threat to Cirrus des Aigles as long as that fall has left no mental scars.

The middle distance three-year-olds have not looked as good as their elders so far this season, but it would be unwise to write off Trading Leather, who won the Irish Derby, and Hillstar, who was supplemented for the race at a cost of £75,000 on Monday.

Both are on an upward curve and both their trainers know what it takes to win this race. Hillstar’s trainer, Sir Michael Stoute, holds the joint race record with five wins while Jim Bolger, trainer of Trading Leather, saddled a similar sort, St Jovite, to win both the Irish Derby and King George in 1992.

Favourites have a good record – this century eight out of 13 have been successful with the other five winners all at single figure odds, so a big outsider is very unlikely to win on that trend.

Make sure you tune in on Channel 4 at 3.50pm on Saturday to savour a spectacular contest – or, better still, get along to Ascot if you can.