Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) will miss the defence of his G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes crown having been taken out of the race at the latest scratching stage.
The 2021 Derby winner memorably got the better of Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) in the Ascot showpiece 12 months ago-a double last achieved by Galileo (Ire) in 2001-and was poised to make his belated seasonal reappearance in the July 23 feature, having previously been ruled out of Royal Ascot and the G1 Coral-Eclipse this campaign.
Joining the 4-year-old in missing Ascot are stablemates Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), while others to exit the picture include Sir Mark Prescott's recent G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and the Queen's Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).
Sir Michael Stoute has won the race a record six times and goes for victory number seven with his Derby hero Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}). He is one of 15 who remain in the hunt for the mile-and-a-half prize alongside Irish Derby hero Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who could be given the chance to atone for his troubled passage at Epsom and try to turn the tables on Desert Crown.
Aidan O'Brien is responsible for a fifth of the possible field and could be represented by High Definition (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Royal Ascot scorer Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}), while last year's shock Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) could make an exciting raid having bounced back to form at Hamburg over the weekend.
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