When it comes to Ascot's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., Sir Michael Stoute takes up more than a small section of the race's guidebook, and the tsar of Freemason Lodge enters the reckoning on Saturday with a true kingpin in the G1 Coral-Eclipse hero Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). One of 10 remaining after Thursday's confirmation stage, the Niarchos Family's homebred bids to become the first since Opera House (GB) to complete the hallowed Eclipse-King George double in the same season since 1993. The latter was one of five winners in the great race for Stoute as he ties with the late Dick Hern and Saeed bin Suroor, and judged on his battling defeat of the G1 St James's Palace S. winner Barney Roy (GB) (Excelebration {Ire}) three weeks ago, Ulysses has the credentials to provide him with the outright record. He may have committed too early when previously third behind last year's King George hero Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. at the Royal meeting on June 21 and jockey Jim Crowley is intent on waiting longer this time.
“It was the first time I'd ridden him in the Prince of Wales's and I might have got there a little bit too soon against a horse like Highland Reel, who loves a fight,” he explained. “He's won over a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter and the way he travels he could probably win over a mile. He's just a very high-class horse.” The owner-breeder's racing manager Alan Cooper echoed that sentiment. “In the Prince of Wales's S., maybe Ulysses thought job done when he hit the front and we had to hold him up a bit more. Jim Crowley did that when Ulysses won the Eclipse, but even then he said to me 'I would have liked to have been more patient.' As a horse matures, you learn more about him and what tactics he is comfortable with. A daring ride is the way it looks like.”
Stoute has no doubts about the return to the mile-and-a-half trip over which he won last year's G3 Gordon S. and was fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in November. “He will stay–he has won a Gordon at the trip and didn't settle as well as I'd have liked at Santa Anita. The three horses in front of him there are the three best turf horses in the world, so it was a very respectable performance. He's growing up and becoming more professional and is settling better. He wouldn't want the ground too soft, but he has a big chance.”
Thursday's withdrawals featured three of the Maktoum contingent who would have been prominent players in Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy), Frontiersman (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Permian (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), with the Godolphin presence narrowed to three with the 2015 G3 Huxley S. winner Maverick Wave (Elusive Quality) employed for pacemaking duties. He will aid fellow John Gosden trainee Jack Hobbs (GB) (Halling), as he did in the G1 QIPCO Champion S. here in October and the latter firmly enters the fray now that the British summer has taken a downturn. The 2015 G1 Irish Derby hero was only eighth in the Prince of Wales's last time, but previously had Highland Reel well in arrears when capturing the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic on similar conditions to those he faces on Saturday. Gosden, who also has the enviable position of saddling the race's red-hot favourite Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), does not regard Jack Hobbs as a bit-player. “Jack Hobbs was very fortunate to get his ground in Dubai. He wasn't so fortunate at Royal Ascot,” he said. “It had always been the plan to run him in the Prince of Wales's. He had run obviously brilliantly over one mile and a quarter before in autumn ground, notably when he came back from the whole season off last year and finished just right in behind Almanzor and Found. You don't have much better form than that. I think the 34-centigrade heat and the lightning-fast track at Royal Ascot did not suit him, but he is back to probably his best distance and he's back to some give in the ground, so that should play to his strengths.” William Buick added, “Jack Hobbs has an excellent chance, especially as he is coming back to a mile and a half on rain-softened ground, two major factors in his favour, but we will all have to produce our A-game to beat Enable. It was too fast for him [at Royal Ascot] and he never let himself down on that ground.”
'TDN Rising Star' Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the other Godolphin representative and, disappointingly, the sole 3-year-old colt in the line-up for an otherwise impressive renewal. He steps back up to the mile-and-a-half trip over which he was an eye-catching fifth in the June 3 G1 Epsom Derby and comes here on the back of a success in the G3 Hampton Court S. over 10 furlongs at the Royal meeting on June 22. He is another whose prospects are boosted by the inclement weather and trainer Saeed bin Suroor is confident he will put up a bold show. “Benbatl won well at Royal Ascot and is improving with time,” he commented. “His latest piece of work on Monday went nicely and good-to-soft ground will be fine for him. He is coming up against some of the best horses, but we have been happy with his preparation and I am looking forward to seeing how he gets on.”
What the official going will be on Saturday remains in the balance, but it is almost certain that the Berkshire venue will receive more rain prior to the main event. With the going good-to-soft on Thursday, clerk of the course Chris Stickels was reaching for his crystal ball. “We had 3mm on Wednesday and, after a dry night a heavy shower at lunchtime on Thursday added another 2mm or so,” he told the Racing Post. “There was another short, sharp shower mid-afternoon, but it was nothing significant. There's another band of rain due after racing on Friday and overnight that could bring 3mm or 4mm and if that happens it will probably be good-to-soft on the round course on Saturday, although it could be a bit better than that and it might also be a little worse. Saturday itself should be dry until well after the King George.”
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