Enable, the Oaks winner in both England and Ireland, moved further clear of Highland Reel on Tuesday in the betting for Saturday’s QIPCO King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, as Chris Stickels, the track’s clerk of the course, predicted that the going this weekend will be good at best and “could easily have soft in there somewhere”.
Enable won both the Cheshire Oaks and then the Epsom Classic on good ground earlier in the season and is unlikely to be inconvenienced by a little cut in the turfon Saturday. Highland Reel, though, has a marked preference for faster going and finished last of seven in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March when the ground was described as yielding after what was, by Dubai standards, significant rainfall.
“We won’t see “firm” in there anywhere unless the forecast is completely inaccurate and we don’t get any rain tomorrow,” Stickels said on Tuesday at a media event to begin the build-up to Saturday’s Group One contest. “There is a forecast of between 1mm and 5mm passing through tomorrow and then a small risk of some showers between then and Saturday.
“On Saturday afternoon there’s also a weather front coming over from the Atlantic, though at the moment it looks as though that will arrive after racing. We’ve had this low pressure circling around us, so it’s not going to turn hot and drying. It’s going to be breezy and at the moment we’re good-to-soft in the straight and soft, good-to-soft on the round course.
“There could easily be soft in there somewhere and the most likely outcome is that it will be good.”
Aidan O’Brien, Highland Reel’s trainer, has five possible runners among the 16 remaining contenders, though Kevin Buckley, the UK representative for Coolmore Stud, told a media afternoon in London on Tuesday said that only Highland Reel and Idaho, his full brother, are expected to be declared to run on Thursday.
“As we saw at the Royal meeting [where he won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes], Highland Reel likes Ascot,” Buckley said. “He does prefer good or better ground, which is one thing we must point out, but he’s tough, durable and gives his all every time.
“Idaho hasn’t won a Group One race yet while Highland Reel has won six and raced in so many countries and on three different continents. He’s got a hard act to follow but he’s getting on to his heels.”
Enable, who eased to an impressive five-and-a-half-length success in the Irish Oaks 10 days ago, has yet to be confirmed for a quick reappearance at Ascot but is now top-priced at 7-4 (from 2-1 overnight) for Saturday’s race, with Highland Reel, the 5-4 favourite three days ago, now out to 5-2.
John Gosden, Enable’s trainer, saddled the Oaks winner to win the King George just three years ago when Taghrooda was success in both races, though without a trip to Ireland in between. He appears to hold an even stronger hand than O’Brien this year, as Jack Hobbs, the 2015 Irish Derby winner, is the 6-1 third-favourite for Saturday’s race, ahead of Idaho on 13-2.
“I think the final decision on Enable will be made on Wednesday morning,” Gosden said on Tuesday in a pre-recorded interview. “She took Ireland very well. She got a little cut behind but that’s healed. Her races have been very well spaced so far, Newbury [in April] to the Cheshire Oaks was nearly three weeks, then the Cheshire Oaks to Epsom was [nearly] a month and it was virtually seven weeks to the Irish Oaks.
“This is a two-week gap but she took the race very well so we’re having a really strong look [at the King George]. She skipped clear of some very nice fillies but she flew over and back so she didn’t have the strain of 15 hours through Holyhead on the ferry.”
Jack Hobbs could be a springer in the market if the rainfall at Ascot is at the upper end of expectations, as he has high-class form with cut in the ground and won the Sheema Classic in which Highland Reel finished last, a dozen lengths in front of O’Brien’s runner. He was himself last in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, however, when the fast ground was blamed for his disappointing performance as favourite.
“Jack Hobbs was very fortunate to get that ground in Dubai, but he wasn’t so fortunate at Royal Ascot,” Gosden said. “It had always been the plan to run in the Prince of Wales, and he’d run brilliantly over a mile-and-a-quarter before in autumn ground when he finished behind Almanzor and Found [in the Champion Stakes]. But I think 34-degree heat and a lightning track didn’t suit him, so he’s back to probably his best distance and some give in the ground, so that should play to his strengths.”
Ulysses, the Eclipse Stakes winner, is also expected to line up on Saturday unless significant rain arrives at the track.
“As far as the [12-furlong] trip is concerned, he’s won a Gordon Stakes and he ran a very solid race in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita [last November],” Sir Michael Stoute, the trainer of Ulysses, said. “And he’s more settled this year, he relaxes better and that will be to his advantage.
“I think the trip to Santa Anita did him a lot of good, I hoped that it would and it did. We go there hopeful and I hope there’s not too much rain.”
Wednesday’s tips by Greg Wood
Bath
2.10 Golden Salute 2.40 Burauq 3.10 Farleigh Mac 3.40 Really Super 4.10 Innoko 4.40 Famous Dynasty 5.10 Waves
Catterick
2.00 Placebo Effect 2.30 Star Of Zaam 3.00 Faradays Spark 3.30 Bernie’s Boy 4.00 Fumbo Jumbo 4.30 Cupid’s Arrow 5.00 Deben 5.30 King Of The Celts
Leicester
5.45 Carlovian 6.15 Tenby Two 6.45 Chancery 7.20 Kirkham 7.50 Indian Raj 8.20 La Havrese 8.50 Majestic Stone
Lingfield
2.20 Oswald 2.50 Tie Em Up Tel 3.20 Ice Slice 3.50 Baby Gal 4.20 Its A Sheila Thing 4.50 Regal Miss 5.20 Perla Blanca
Sandown
6.00 Sir Jack 6.35 Almoreb (nap) 7.10 Sam Gold 7.40 Sultan Baybars 8.10 Clowance One (nb) 8.40 Alsvinder
