Aidan O'Brien is responsible for five of the 11 possible runners in Saturday's G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes following Monday's confirmation stage, with Auguste Rodin (Ire) set to lead the Ballydoyle team into battle at Ascot as he tries to atone for his disappointing effort in the corresponding race 12 months ago.
A four-time winner at the top level as a three-year-old when landing the Derby, Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders' Cup Turf, Auguste Rodin ran one of his lesser races that season when sent off the 9-4 favourite for the King George, ultimately finishing last of the 10 runners behind Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) on rain-softened ground.
This year began in similar fashion for the son of Deep Impact (Jpn) as he again failed to beat a rival in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March, but he's got back on track on his last two starts to cement his position as the red-hot favourite for Saturday's feature contest. Runner-up to White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in May, he then underlined that the Ascot track holds no fears for him when gaining the sixth Group 1 success of his career in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes.
Auguste Rodin could be joined at Ascot by the stable's four-time Group 1 winner Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), last seen winning the Coronation Cup at Epsom, and last year's G1 St Leger hero Continuous (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), who shaped as if needing the run after nearly nine months off when finishing fifth in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}, third in last month's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, and Hans Andersen (GB) (Frankel {GB}) complete the Ballydoyle contingent.
Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud scorer Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}) is one of four other Group 1 winners in the potential line-up, along with Charlie Appleby's Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire})–already successful at the top level five times in four different countries–last month's Pretty Polly Stakes heroine Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}) and the three-year-old Sunway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), who won the Criterium International as a juvenile and was last seen filling the runner-up spot in the Irish Derby.
Sunway is the only member of the Classic generation among the 11 contenders, leaving the four-year-olds Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) and Middle Earth (GB) (Roaring Lion) to complete the list, having finished second and third, respectively, when they met in the Hardwicke last time.
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