King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes – 29/07/23
At 3:40 on Saturday we have one of the delights of the Flat season with the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes at Ascot. The Classic generation taking on their elders over a mile and a half of the Ascot turf. The race has a superb prize fund, second only to the Derby in terms of prize money, but this year’s race looks likely to top the Epsom showpiece in terms of its quality and depth of field.
History
The race was formed in 1951, the idea of Major John Crocker Bulteel, who wanted to amalgamate 2 races, the King George VI Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which had been formed in honour of the Royal couple after the War, but which had struggled to attract strong fields. The inaugural running was won by Supreme Court, trained by Evan Williams, who had landed the Chester Vase and the King Edward VII Stakes before coming to land this prize. Supreme Court was the first of many winners of this race to have their stallion career launched by this victory, with the 1964 Champion Hurdle winner Magic Court perhaps his most famous son. In their review of the twentieth century champions, Timeform gave Supreme Court a rating of 135, making him the joint highest rated 3-year-old of the century.
The list of illustrious names to have won this race is endless, but perhaps the golden era came in the early 70s when the race was won by a series of champions in quick succession; Nijinsky (1970), Mill Reef (1971), Brigadier Gerard (1972), Dahlia (1973, 1974) and Grundy (1975). The 1975 race, when Grundy got the better of Bustino in a thrilling finish, is widely considered to be the best race of the century. In the 1980s, the race had the likes of Shergar (1981), Dancing Brave (1986) and Nashwan (1989) amongst its roster, whilst in more recent times it has been won by the likes of Galileo (2001), Hurricane Run (2006), Dylan Thomas (2007) and Highland Reel (2016), all champions in their own right. The most successful horse in this race has come in the last few years, with Enable winning 3 times (2017, 2019, 2020) under Frankie Dettori.
Jockeys and Trainers
Like so many of the top group 1 races in the UK, the history of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is littered with winners ridden by Lester Piggott. He rode his first winner aboard Meadow Court in 1965 and added 6 more wins in subsequent years (1966, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1984) with perhaps Nijinsky in 1970 his most famous winner. He holds the record jointly with Frankie Dettori, who also has 7 wins, which include all 3 aboard Enable (1995, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2017, 2019, 2020).
Sir Michael Stoute currently holds the mantle of being the leading trainer in this race with 6 victories (1981, 1993, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2018) but he is closely followed by John Gosden and Saeed Bin Suroor, who have 5 wins each. The race was designed to be an international contest that would bring the best middle distance horses from around Europe to compete and in recent years it has succeeded in that aim. Andre Fabre (Hurricane Run 2006), Peter Schiergen (Danedream 2012) and Andreas Wohler (Novellist 2013) have all sent runners to win this race in recent years.
Recent Trends
The race is often billed as the Classic generation taking on their elders and there have been six 3-year-old winners of the contest since the turn of the century, with both Galileo (2001) and Adayar (2021) doing the double with this race and the Derby at Epsom. We shouldn’t forget the 3-year-old Fillies either, as both Taghrooda (2014) and Enable (20170, managed to land the Oaks at Epsom before winning here. The weight for age allowance does give the 3-year-olds a chance, but perhaps the more significant fact is that Swain (1998) is the only horse older than 5 who has managed to win this race since its inception.
The race has been relatively kind to Punters in recent years, with 4 of the last 10 SP favourites obliging and last year’s winner Pyledriver (18/1), the only winner with a double figure starting price.
Don’t forget to check out our YouTube and Social Media channels this weekend for our teams thoughts on the 2023 running of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes.
