2013 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes

2013 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes: Ascot’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (sponsored by Betfair), is Britain’s most prestigious 3 year-old and up race. The ‘King George’ was first run in 1951 following the compilation of two other middle-distance races and honors Her Majesty The Queen’s late parents. With Betfair backing the race now, the purse has reached the amount of $1,000,000 making it very competitive. The 2013 King George is part of the Breeder’s Cup “Win and You’re In” championship series. On Saturday July 27th the race will be run on the turf at one and a half miles and is set at Ascot Racecourse in Great Britain.

I’m not very knowledgable on the European trainers and horses so I’m flying blind here. My pick from last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf, St. Nicholas Abbey, was my go-to horse here and with the tragic injury and retirement of him this week, I’m going to have to go with a few gut instincts.

The headliner looks to be Cirrus Des Aigles as he has won at Ascot before in the 2011 QIPCO Championship Stakes and ran second to the famous Frankel in the same race in 2012. He was disappointing in the Saint-Cloud on June 23rd when he only managed to finish 5th behind the winner Novelist who is subsequently running here also. Novelist aside from winning that race has been victorious in his last three starts and already has a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf as a consequence of the win in the Saint-Cloud.

Another horse I like in the 2013 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes  is Universal, trained by Mark Johnston who seems to be steadily progressing and after his fourth win this summer in the (GII) Princess of Wale’s Stakes, looks ready to step it up to Graded stakes competition. The faster the ground the better for this guy.

Last but not least, an interesting fellow here and a longshot is the 4 year-old Very Nice Name from Qatar. He has not raced since finishing second at three and a half lengths behind St. Nicholas Abbey in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on March 30th but I always like a horse after a layoff if they seem to be training well.

My top three picks for the The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes will be Cirrus Des Aigles, Universal and Very Nice Name in no particular order. I like Novellist but I’m hoping the other three prevail since he already has his Breeders’ Cup Turf spot. I hope they all have a safe trip and may the best horse of the day win.

Good luck to all of the 2013 King George contenders!

2013 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes Post Positions & Odds
1 Cirrus Des Aigles 3-2
2 Ektihaam 8-1
3 Novellist 4-1
4 Red Cadeaux 30-1
5 Universal 15-1
6 Very Nice Name 18-1
7 Hillstar 6-1
8 Trading Leather 9-2

Winner:
Novellist