King George Runners Guide: Auguste Rodin and King Of Steel set for epic Ascot battle

Derby winner Auguste Rodin is set to try and claim more Group 1 success at Ascot on July 29 when the Classic hero heads to Berkshire for a crack at the prestigious King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which is one of the feature Flat races on the calendar. We take a look at the possible runners for the showpiece event which should see Derby runner-up King Of Steel and some top class older horses do battle for glory...

He may have disappointed in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket at the start of the season, but Auguste Rodin stormed back into the limelight with a superb victory in the Derby at Epsom a few weeks later and he claimed more Classic success when storming to a dominant Irish Derby victory at the Curragh to add another Group 1 prize to his glittering CV. Well, the Aidan O'Brien-trained three-year-old is set to lock horns with the older horses for the first time in the King George at Ascot and the Ballydoyle hotpot is a prominent figure in the betting for the 1m 4f contest.

Reeling in the top notch performer King Of Steel in the Derby at Epsom, Auguste Rodin is set to do battle again with that Roger Varian-trained star colt, who kicked on from that Epsom run by landing victory in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and King Of Steel has shaped like there could still be some notable improvement to come and is challenging for favouritism for the King George, which will see the three-year-olds take on some of the elite middle distance older horses at the end of this month.

One of those older runners could be the John & Thady Gosden-trained Emily Upjohn, who stormed back into the winner's enclosure at Epsom's Derby meeting as the former Oaks runner-up bounded to glory in the Coronation Cup, but she failed to follow it up when being beaten by Paddington in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park. Beaten half-a-length that day, she will enjoy the step back up in trip here, but she will need to improve on that Sandown run as the older horses look to give weight away to the three-year-old Classic generation.

William Muir & Chris Grassick's Pyledriver was a shock 18/1 winner of last year's King George and six-year-old will attempt to retain the Group 1 prize in a couple of weeks and he showed on his comeback when winning the Hardwicke Stakes that he continues to deliver at the highest level and he has a real love for Ascot. This will only be his second start this campaign and it's back in top-class company, but he has shown to be a real model of consistency in recent times and he's entitled to be a leading fancy in the latest betting.

The Owen Burrows-trained Hukum returned to the track at Sandown in the Brigadier Gerard and duly outclassed the former Derby hero Desert Crown in that Group 3 contest and Burrows' raider is set to take his place in the field here. Another with top notch middle distance form, he will be another challenger fighting it out for the older brigade and while will have to give notable weight away to the three-year-olds is a proven class act at the highest level.

Of the other entries that could play their part, Westover was last seen winning in Group 1 company in France and could return to home soil here, while the likes of Luxembourg and Adelaide River could add significant strength in depth to the travelling O'Brien team, who will fancy Auguste Rodin to continue his fine campaign on the track in 2023.