Duke can continue his belated rise to the top

PERHAPS it’s puristically disappointing but today’s King George can, readily, be boiled down to a two-horse race.

Traditionally the showpiece is where the classic generation’s middle distance stars go tete-a-tete with their older rivals for the first time, but today’s race is poorer for the absence of three-year-old competitors and, it seems, genuine aspirants to glory.

It being a Group 1 race, one thing is constant; Aidan O’Brien is well represented and, in the shape of his number one representative, Duke Of Marmalade, he handles the favourite to continue Ballydoyle’s dominance at the top level.