THE King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 25th is the target for Dylan Mouth following his five-length success in the Group 1 Gran Premio di Milano in San Siro last Sunday.

Last year’s Derby Italiano winner, a son of a Prix de l’Arc winner in Dylan Thomas, was sent off the 1/5 favourite to win the 12-furlong race last weekend and did so comfortably under jockey Fabio Branca.

The bare form is nothing much as runner-up Billabong, a Moroccan-bred six-year-old trained in France by Pascal Bary, came into the race having won a listed race at Longchamp by a short-head.

Winning trainer Stefano Botti has only once campaigned Dylan Mouth outside of Italy and that was at Royal Ascot last year when the colt finished a well-beaten eighth behind Eagle Top in the King Edward VII Stakes. That remains the horse’s only defeat in 10 starts to date and it will be interesting to see if he is capable of mixing it with some of Europe’s best middle-distance performers. The imperious Ribot handed Italy its only King George success back in 1956. Botti has also entered Dylan Mouth’s regular pacemaker Celticus in the King George. Dylan Mouth’s most recent win completed a major weekend double for Dylan Thomas, following the victory of Pether’s Moon in the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom on Saturday.

KING GEORGE VI & QUEEN

ELIZABETH STAKES

Ascot, July 25th

Celticus (S Botti)

Clever Cookie (P Niven)

Dylan Mouth (S Botti)

Eagle Top (J Gosden)

Ectot (E Lellouche)

Flintshire (A Fabre)

Free Eagle (D Weld)

Hillstar (Sir M Stoute)

Kingfisher (A O’Brien)

Mahsoob (J Gosden)

Pether’s Moon (R Hannon)

Postponed (L Cumani)

Romsdal (J Gosden)

Telescope (Sir M Stoute)

The Corsican (D Simcock)

The Grey Gatsby (K Ryan)

Dolniya (A de Royer-Dupre)

Just The Judge (C Hills)

Madame Chiang (D Simcock)

Aloft (A O’Brien)

Giovanni Canaletto (A O’Brien)

Golden Horn (J Gosden)

Highland Reel (A O’Brien)

Jack Hobbs (J Gosden)

John F Kennedy (A O’Brien)

Karpino (A Wohler)

Kilimanjaro (A O’Brien)

New Bay (A Fabre)

Ol’ Man River (A O’Brien)

Diamondsandrubies (A O’Brien)

Qualify (A O’Brien)

(31 entries)