King George Weekend Day 2 Preview

It’s day two of Ascot’s King George Weekend on Saturday, with eight races at the Berkshire venue from 13:10-17:15, including the Group 1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 16:10. Our expert has picked out three selections on the Ascot card that could be worth following on a quality Saturday afternoon of racing.

Tip 1: Flowerhead – Sodexo Live! Princess Margaret Stakes (Ascot 13:40)

Group 3 fare for the fillies here over 6f and a decent field of 11 has assembled. Charlie Appleby’s Dance To The Music could progress from her Newmarket debut success in May and is one of three once-raced winners in the field, but the best form is held by Charlie Clover’s FLOWERHEAD. The Starman filly was second on debut on the Tapeta at Wolverhampton in May and won a Chepstow maiden (5f, good to soft) at the beginning of June.

That wasn’t enough to pique interest in the market as she was a 100/1 chance in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot 11 days later but she ran a blinder to be second behind True Love. She finished off really well, promises to relish this extra furlong and the Ballydoyle-trained winner won a Group 2 in Ireland last weekend by a wide margin. There’s more to come from this Amo Racing inmate.

Tip 2: Jan Brueghel – King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Ascot 16:10)

Typically a generational clash, but not this time with no three-year-olds in the mix. Aidan O’Brien’s JAN BRUEGHEL won the St Leger on his final start last season and quickly put memories of a seasonal reappearance setback behind when beating the re-opposing Calandagan at Epsom last month. Jan Brueghel just appeared to need the run when making his comeback at the Curragh over 1m2f in April and he stepped forward appreciably in Coronation Cup at Epsom, showing guts to see off odds-on favourite Calandagan after they had pulled clear for a personal duel.

The Galileo colt was typically tenacious for Ryan Moore and his beaten rival paid him a compliment with a smooth Group 1 win back in France since then. A pair of cheekpieces are added here and the stiff nature of the Ascot track should allow Jan Brueghel plenty of time to engage in battle and overhaul the French challenger again.

Tip 3: Kuredu King – Me2 Club Handicap (Ascot 16:45)

John & Thady Gosden have their string in superb fettle right now, entering the weekend with a 31 per cent strike-rate across the preceding fortnight. The Clarehaven team will be hoping the penny is now dropping for KUREDU KING, a 300,000 gns son of Churchill that gained his first win at Haydock (1m3½f, good) three weeks ago. That was just his sixth start and he improved nicely for the fitting of a first-time blinkers, responding to Rab Havlin’s urgings and getting up in a photo despite hanging left late on.

It was a three-way dive for the line and both the second and third have come out and won their next starts. Kuredu King has been nudged up 2lb by the assessor and has scope to rate a bit higher as he continues to learn his trade.