The King George is a Group 1 race that takes place at Ascot over a distance of 2400m. It’s open to horses that are three years and older, and will take place tonight at 12.50 am Australian time.
It’s generally considered the UK’s premier open-age race and is second-only to the Arc in terms of prestige in Europe.
Past winners include some of the most highly-rated thoroughbreds such as Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Dancing Brave and Harbinger.
Winning trainers include the best in the business like Sir Michael Stoute, Sir Henry Cecil, Saeed bin Suroor, Andre Fabre, Aidan O’Brien, John Oxx and Jim Bolger.
It’s also considered a sire-making race, with past winners including some of the most important recent stallions like Montjeu and Galileo.
Unfortunately, if this year’s favourite wins, we won’t see any of his progeny.
The gelding Cirrus Des Aigles on his best form is far superior to his rivals in this race. However, he is now a seven-year-old and he might not be capable of repeating these performances.
In truth, he might not have to in order to defeat his rivals as there are question marks over the strength of their form.
Trading Leather won the Irish Derby on his last outing and his trainer Jim Bolger believes that he his a genuine contender.
However, this year’s three-year-old crop looks to be ordinary so far and he will have to step up from his last performance to defeat his older rivals here.
The Globe trotting Red Cadeaux can give this a go on his best form, but we didn’t see this from him last time at Royal Ascot.
He is capable of two or three very good performances a year, and so I wouldn’t discount his chances in this.
Novellist defeated Cirrus Des Aigles last time over 2400m in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, but the latter normally needs a run at the start of the season.
Last year, Novellist was three lengths behind Danedream in a Group 1 in Germany.
Danedream won this race last year, and I don’t think she is as a good a horse as Cirrus Des Aigles was last season, and so this gives us an idea of Novellist’s capabilities.
I’m going to give Cirrus Des Aigles the benefit here even though he probably is past his prime, with Trading Leather coming in second and Novellist ending up third.
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