Workforce Favoured for King George VI Stakes

There is a lot to be excited about at Ascot Racecourse this weekend as one of the season's most intriguing Group 1 contests in the handicap division is finally set to unfold. The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes is a key part of the British Champions' Series and a victory here puts one in the mix for the big seasonal bow.

The ground at Ascot is predicted to be good to soft by Saturday but we will obviously have to sit back and adopt a wait and see attitude as to whether things will remain as such.

Plenty of talented runners are here although it is a relatively lean field with just seven still on the card at this point. Nathaniel will be using this one as a prep race for his St Leger goal – a race in which he currently trades as the 4/1 ante post favourite. He is only trading around 7s at the moment for this one as virtually everybody is piling on Juddmonte's preferred entry Workforce – who will likely get a rabbit sent out for him in Midday.

The chief competition for Workforce is St Nicholas Abbey – who looks to be developing genuinely well in his four-year-old season. The son of Montjeu took a Group score at Chester before capturing the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom during the Derby meeting. Much had been expected of him in his three-year-old year but he is finally starting to achieve expectations now.

Punters will find St Nicholas Abbey trading at a 9/4 price tag as he competes with Workforce and his relatively slim 13/8 which will certainly be lower on the day.

Godolphin boast a pair of entries here with long shot Debussy getting Ahmed Ajtebi once again. Rewilding is looking like the sharp outsider in this race and he's trading at 10/3, which might attract a fair amount of volume. He and Dettori pulled out all the stops in their last outing and he will most certainly be in the mix here. Seville makes an appearance and his 33/1 price tag.