While the racing season in Hong Kong ended on a high note, we announced our racing fixtures for the 2024/25 season, starting with our first meeting on September 8. In the interim, we want to showcase the best horses and races from around the world in our simulcast programme, starting with the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes meeting at Ascot.
Our strategic partnership with Ascot to create global racing wagering events as World Pool Events started with Royal Ascot and extends to this highly prestigious meeting with the King George, a Group 1 run over 2392 metres, as the highlight.
The King George has always been a stallion-making race, and this year’s renewal has assembled some of the world’s best stayers, which reinforces the prestige of winning the King George.
Our coverage of the Ascot showpiece meeting starts at 8.15pm with the first of eight races. The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes is carded as S1-5 and will be run at 10.40pm. The race has attracted nine starters, including six individual Group 1 winners boasting a combined tally of 20 Group 1 wins.
Aidan O’Brien, who has won the race four times, will be represented by three runners – AUGUSTE RODIN, LUXEMBOURG and HANS ANDERSEN – with Ryan Moore taking the mount on AUGUSTE RODIN.
Pitted against the might of the Ballydoyle stable is a host of Group 1 victors including REBEL’S ROMANCE, a brilliant last-start winner of the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) at Sha Tin for Charlie Appleby, Ralph Beckett’s star filly BLUESTOCKING, SUNWAY for David Menuisier and William Haggas’ globe-trotting DUBAI HONOUR.
Both Augustus Rodin and Rebel’s Romance carry an international rating of 123.
Adding even more depth to the race is the presence of John & Thady Gosden’s promising colt MIDDLE EARTH and Frenchman Francis Graffard’s GOLIATH, a lightly-raced son of the outstanding sire ADLERFLUG.
The pace is expected to be solid, with HANS ANDERSON likely to lead and set a solid tempo. AUGUSTE RODIN is a mercurial talent who is chasing a seventh Group 1 title after returning to top form with victory in the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes (1993m) over this course last month. The forecasted Good track conditions will suit AUGUSTE RODIN and I make him my first choice for Aidan and Ryan.
REBEL’S ROMANCE has repeatedly shown his versatility with wins in Hong Kong, Germany, Dubai, the United States and Qatar and he is also unbeaten in five starts in England with an overall record of 13 wins from 19 starts. He is the biggest challenge to AUGUSTE RODIN and again has the services of William Buick.
BLUESTOCKING was impressive in winning the G1 Pretty Polly Stakes (2000m) at the Curragh and is a place chance for Rossa Ryan. DUBAI HONOUR (Tom Marquand) won the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (2400m) on rain-affected ground on 30 June, and LUXEMBOURG is partnered by Wayne Lordan.
Irish Derby runner-up SUNWAY (James Doyle) and GOLIATH, who will be ridden by Christophe Soumillon, are both interesting runners.
As a racehorse owner myself, I am very pleased to see my three-year-old filly Baltic Empress recorded her first win in a very competitive maiden race in France last Monday (22 July). Meanwhile, with preparations already underway for the 2024/25 Hong Kong season, I would like to congratulate Vincent Ho for his victory at Pontefract in England on LOVE DE VEGA for young trainer Charlie Johnston. Vincent relishes the opportunity to ride in overseas jurisdictions to gain further experience and enhance his skill set.
Vincent will ride at Glorious Goodwood next week in what will be a highlight of his short-term stint in Great Britain before travelling to Japan to participate in the World All-Stars Jockeys series next month.
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