Cracking King George in prospect

Workforce and Ryan Moore after their Investec Derby victory last year. Image courtesy of www.racingfotos.com.

The trend of outstandingly strong fields for the top QIPCO British Champions Series races looks set to continue on Saturday with a mouthwatering field for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (sponsored by Betfair) now very much on the cards.

Only seven horses may remain engaged in the £1m mid-summer Ascot showpiece, the fifth race in the Middle Distance category of the QIPCO British Champions Series, of which only five or six may end up running, but you could scarcely ask for a more exciting line-up.

Leading the way is last year’s Investec Derby and Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Stakes winner, Workforce, who looked every bit as good as last year when going down narrowly to So You Think in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes earlier in the month.

That race was over 10 furlongs, whereas the 12 furlong (mile and a half) King George should bring out the best in the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt, for whom the recent rain and continuing unsettled weather will be all in his favour. Ryan Moore will once again be in the saddle.

Up against him are two other established four-year-old stars, Rewilding and St Nicholas Abbey, and a three-year-old with the potential to make a big name for himself, Nathaniel.

Rewilding, trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni and the mount of Frankie Dettori, is two-out-of-two so far this year, winning the Dubai Sheema Classic over 12 furlongs at Meydan in March and coming out on top in an epic tussle with So You Think in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes over 10 furlongs at Royal Ascot last month.

He is clearly a top class colt and, like Workforce, should prefer stepping back up to 12 furlongs, but his preference for fast ground provides a nagging doubt with a low pressure system hovering over the UK this week and the going currently Good, Good to Soft in places at Ascot.

St Nicholas Abbey was the top juvenile of 2009, but after a modest performance in last year’s 2000 Guineas was not seen again until this season.

A disappointing comeback run on soft ground at The Curragh in April was followed by an impressive win at Chester in May before he made his QIPCO British Champions Series debut in the Investec Coronation Cup at Epsom in June, getting the better of Midday by a length after appearing ill at ease on the undulating track.

Highly regarded by his trainer, Aidan O’Brien, this is the big chance for St Nicholas Abbey to demonstrate just how good he really is, but as with Rewilding, he probably would not relish soft ground if the rains continue.

The potentially top class three-year-old is Nathaniel, trained by John Gosden, who got within half a length of Frankel when they both made their debuts at Newmarket last August.

This season he went down by a head to the subsequent Investec Derby runner-up and Irish Derby winner, Treasure Beach, at Chester in May, but then was an easy winner of the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

His connections would not have paid the £75,000 to supplement him for the race if they did not feel they had a chance of toppling the four-year-olds and, like Workforce, Nathaniel will be very much at home if there is some cut in the ground.

The three other horses remaining engaged in the race all appear to be second strings for their owners/trainers. Midday, in the same Khalid Abdulla-ownership as Workforce, is a top class mare but is probably only there in case Workforce is forced to miss the race. The Aidan O’Brien-trained Seville, is perhaps only there as cover for St Nicholas Abbey, while the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained Debussy will probably have a pacemaking role for Rewilding.

Final declarations will be made at 10.30am on Thursday.  For the full race details, CLICK HERE.