Strongfield for King George
His trainer Aidan O’Brien will still be represented in the midsummer middle-distance championship on Saturday by Tycoon, the only three-year-old in the line-up. Jamie Spencer’s mount, third in the Budweiser Irish Derby at 150-1, will come out of stall three.
“Tycoon’s improved a lot from his run in the Irish Derby, and is in good shape for Ascot,” said O’Brien, who won this race with Galileo three years ago.
The favourite, Doyen, is among a three-strong Godolphin team complemented by last year’s runner-up Sulamani and pacemaker Lunar Sovereign.
“Sulamani is still an intended runner but obviously we would like more rain for him,” Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford told At The Races. “He’s quite a clever horse, but a very good horse given the right conditions
“Obviously Doyen has a major chance and Lunar Sovereign is in there as a pacemaker.”
Elie Lellouche’s Vallee Enchantee bids to be the first French-trained winner since Pawneese in 1976 while Hard Buck, trained in Kentucky by Kenny McPeek, bids to take this prestigious prize back to America for the first time.
