THIS is a King George in the truest sense of the word(s).

Okay, so Desert Crown is out, and Aidan O’Brien is only running four of his six, and the French-trained Simca Mille is not making the trip, but this is still a deep, deep renewal of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (resist the urge to say Diamond and replace with) Qipco Stakes, and that’s all good.

It is not one of those ‘duel’ King Georges, it’s not a Grundy/Bustino King George, or a Galileo/Fantastic Light King George, or even a Nashwan/Cacoethes King George. It’s one of the deep ones.

Of course, the current crop, by definition, can’t compete at present with the legends of the sport, whose legendary status can only be gained with the passage of time.

But, with that passage, we may look back on today’s King George and put it in the same file as the 1986 renewal, when Dancing Brave beat Shardari and Triptych and Shahrastani and Petoski, or the 1993 renewal, when Opera House beat White Muzzle and Commander In Chief and User Friendly and Tenby, or the 1998 renewal, when Swain won his second, the six-year-old beating High-Rise and Royal Anthem and Daylami and Romanov and Silver Patriarch. It could be that good.

It’s a long way removed from the 2020 renewal anyway, when Enable beat two rivals.

And as befits a deep renewal, you can make a case for many. Just two three-year-olds in the race, but they are the three-year-olds you want, the Derby 1-2 with many claiming that, if the ball had hopped a little differently, they could have finished in the other order. So there’s a private duel thing to be settled there.

Not impressive

Since Epsom, Auguste Rodin has won the Irish Derby, but he wasn’t as impressive at the Curragh as he had been at Epsom. In mitigation, it always looked like he was going to win, and the runner-up at the Curragh, his stable companion Adelaide River, has since finished second in the Grand Prix de Paris, and he remains a hugely exciting colt.

By contrast, Derby runner-up King Of Steel was impressive in winning the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot after the Derby, and it wouldn’t be surprising if either member of the classic generation were to prevail today.

Only four three-year-olds have won the King George in 19 renewals since Alamshar: Nathaniel, Taghrooda, Enable and Adayar.

Two Oaks winners, a Derby winner and a King Edward VII winner who would go on to win the Eclipse. It takes a special type of three-year-old to win a King George.

Last year’s Oaks runner-up Emily Upjohn looked as good as ever in winning the Coronation Cup on her debut this year, and she will be happier over a mile and a half today than she was over a mile and a quarter in the Eclipse.

Pyledriver, last year’s winner, also looked very good in winning the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot, and that should bring him forward, while last year’s Irish Derby winner Westover, winner of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud earlier this month, and last year’s Irish Champion Stakes winner Luxembourg are both big prices. There’s the depth to the race right there.

Hukum was backed earlier in the week when the rains arrived, but he could still be the value of the race.

Owen Burrows’ horse is six now, but he is relatively lightly raced for his age, and the evidence suggests that he is better than ever now.

Not that he wasn’t good as a younger horse. He won the King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot and the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury as a three-year-old, and he won three Group 3 races as a four-year-old, including the Geoffrey Freer Stakes again.

Winner of a Group 2 race in Dubai in the spring of last year, he came back to Britain last summer and won the Coronation Cup at Epsom.

That was his first Group 1 win and, in beating Pyledriver by over four lengths, it looked like he set himself up for a run at the top middle distance races last season.

He came back lame from Epsom, however, and he was ruled out for the rest of the season. There was a chance that he wouldn’t race again, but he made his 2023 return in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown in May, when he put up a really good performance to beat Desert Crown.

He conceded first run to the Derby winner, but had the pace to go and pick him up deep inside the final furlong, before winning by half a length.

He was weak in the market before that race, so it is reasonable to assume that he will progress from it. Also, a dual Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner, a John Smith’s Silver Cup winner over a mile and six furlongs, the 10-furlong trip of the Brigadier Gerard should have been sharper than ideal for him.

He should appreciate the step back up to a mile and a half today. He should also appreciate the cut in the ground, and the return to Ascot.

He has run at Ascot three times, and he has won there twice, both wins recorded over today’s course and distance. He could further enhance his Ascot record today.

International Stakes

Baradar goes well at Ascot too, and he could be a big player in the Moet & Chandon International Stakes.

Seven furlongs and soft ground is ideal for George Boughey’s horse. He looked a likely winner of the Lincoln on his first run this season as they raced inside the final furlong, but his stamina just ebbed inside the final 200 yards, and he finished third in the end.

Dropped back down to seven furlongs for the Victoria Cup, he could only finish sixth there, but he had to cover a lot of ground to deliver his challenge in the centre of the track, keeping on well to take sixth place, less than a length behind Biggles and Vafortino and Safe Voyage.

He beat Biggles by over a length at Doncaster last November, and he is 1lb better off with Ralph Beckett’s horse today.

He was well beaten in the Buckingham Palace Stakes at the Royal meeting last time, but you can easily allow him that, it was on fast ground, and he has been dropped 1lb as a result.

Back on easy ground today, back over seven furlongs at Ascot, he should be able to step forward again.

Baradar, 3.00 Ascot, 7/1 (generally), 1 point each-way

Hukum, 3.40 Ascot, 9/2 (generally), 1 point win