St Nicholas Abbey Looks The Value To Land King George As Rivals Favour Eclipse

Although the King George Vl & Queen Elizabeth Stakes is not run for another three weeks, it is still worth taking a look at the race which is regarded as the most important trial for the leading English and Irish runners who have a the long term aim of running  in Europe’s most prestigious horse race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday 2nd October.

Several of the current leading fancies for the  King George Vl & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, run at Ascot on Saturday 23rd July are entered  in this weekend's Eclipse which is run over 1 mile 2 furlongs compared to the 1m 4 furlong King Geroge trip and as such, most are unlikely to have two hard fought races in the space of 21 days.

The current favourite for the King George is the Aidan O’Brien trained St Nicholas Abbey, the very impressive winner of the Group One Coronation Cup at Epsom in June. The next best in the market is Workforce, winner of both the Arc de Triomphe and Epsom Derby in 2010, although he did flop in this race 12 months ago and the Eclipse looks the Sir Michael Stoute runner's preferred target.

Marginally behind Workforce in the betting comes a second O’Brien entry, which is none other than the horse they call the ‘Superstar from Down Under’, So You Think, who was turned over at odds of 4/11 in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot recently but following a £40,000 bet with Coral about him winning the Eclipse at odds of 5/4, it looks like he too will head to Sandown instead of Ascot.

St Nicholas Abbey is currently 2/1 favourite in the King George Vl & Queen Elizabeth Stakes odds and given his two nearest rivals in the betting, Workforce (3/1) and So you Think (4/1) are no guarantee to run in the race, the odds about St Nicholas Abbey look too good to pass up and will be much shorter on the day of the race if one, let alone both protagonists don't run in the race.

The horse that beat So you Think at Royal Ascot was Rewilding and looks a certain contender for the the King George Vl & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni, Rewilding has got to be one of the biggest improvers from the age of three to four this season if his victory over So You Think is anything to go by. Before that race he was last seen winning the Group One Sheemah Classic at Meydan, which came after he could only manage sixth place, when an even money favourite in the Doncaster St Leger last September. He was also third and well behind Workforce in the 2010 Epsom Derby.

French Derby winner, Reliable Man, trained by Andre De Royer-Dupre is another expected to take his chance in the King George and the three year old French Raider will head to Ascot with expectations high for his first race against older horses. Unbeaten in three races, this horse had several decnet types behind when winning The French Derby and with more improvement likely, he could pose the biggest danger to St Nicholas Abbey and the 14/1 with Stan James looks an each way steal.