Auguste Rodin will join an elite handful of Aidan O’Brien-trained stars should he successfully settle scores with Saturday’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
In a stellar career inexplicably including some dire performances perhaps none was worse than last year’s King George when Auguste Rodin came in a long last, all of 127 lengths behind the winner Hukum.
Since then, the son of Deep Impact has restored his reputation with a series of top-flight successes although he also failed to fire in March’s Sheema Classic in Meydan behind Godolphin star Rebel’s Romance who is due to reoppose in Ascot’s weekend feature.
Auguste Rodin proved Ascot is no problem to him last month when landing the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, a sixth Group One career triumph for him and a landmark 400th in all for his trainer.
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Only five horses during O’Brien’s record-breaking career have won more at the top level. Yeats, Magical, Minding, Rock Of Gibraltar and O’Brien’s last King George winner, Highland Reel, all notched up seven Group One victories during their careers.
Bookmakers quickly installed Auguste Rodin a 5-4 favourite to join them on Saturday after 11 entries were left in the King George on Monday. O’Brien kept in four other Ballydoyle horses including the Coronation Cup hero Luxembourg and last year’s Leger winner Continuous.
“He’s super and that’s the plan. He’s in good form and everything has been good with him since Ascot,” said O’Brien. “Luxembourg is the same, everything is good with him. We also have Continuous there as well.”
There is the prospect of a heavyweight clash between Ballydoyle, Godolphin and potentially Juddmonte who want to run their Pretty Polly Stakes winning filly Bluestocking if ground conditions aren’t too quick at Ascot.
“It’s a 50-50 call. A lot depends on the weather this week. Ascot’s update this morning is forecasting a bit of rain at the back end. That will be welcome but it’s at odds with the Met office,” said her trainer Ralph Beckett. “If she does go for the King George, she’ll certainly be ready for it.”
Rebel’s Romance has run just once in Britain in the last two years while carving out a reputation as a potent international campaigner.
Winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2022, the six-year-old opened 2024 with a valuable win in Doha before impressing in the Sheema Classic. He followed that up with a Group One victory in Hong Kong in May.
With a pair of Group One successes under his belt in Germany in 2022, he will try to land his first top-flight victory in Britain on Saturday.
Just a trio of three-year-olds have won the King George in the last 20 years and the sole representative of the classic generation this time is the Irish Derby runner-up Sunway.
Elsewhere, the countdown is on to next week’s Galway Festival with owner JP McManus looking to be well-represented in the summer’s steeplechase highlight.
McManus has both 8-1 joint-favourites, Percival Legallois and In Excelsis Deo, for the €270,000 Tote Galway Plate which has 33 left in it. He is pursuing an eighth win in the Plate following Early Doors’ victory in 2020.
Last year’s winner Ash Tree Meadow is topweight on a mark of 160 for a potential repeat, over a stone higher than when successful in 2023.
McManus has a prime Britain-based candidate for the festival’s other highlight, the €270,000 Guinness Galway Hurdle, in Under Control. Nicky Henderson’s runner, runner-up to Ashroe Diamond at Doncaster in January, is a 10-1 shot with some firms.
Willie Mullins has landed the Galway Hurdle three times in the last four years and his Daddy Long Legs is prominent in betting lists despite a surprise defeat on his previous start.
My Mate Mozzie ran third in the race a year ago and could return for another crack at it.
“He has an entry in a mile-and-a-half premier handicap at Galway and he’ll also have an entry in the Galway Hurdle, which he finished third in last year.
“I’m not certain what direction he’s going to go in. We’d like to go to the Ebor as well, but he probably will run in Galway first, as I think it’s three weeks then until the Ebor,” said trainer Gavin Cromwell.
Tuesday’s jumps action is at Ballinrobe where Jack Kennedy will continue his countdown to Galway with four rides for Gordon Elliott. Ireland’s new champion jockey returned to action after a lengthy suspension, as well as a foot injury, with a winner at Killarney on Friday.
Those who believe Petrol Head has a shot at next week’s Galway Hurdle will hope for a form boost from the handicap contender Only One Plan who had a thankless task at Downpatrick last time out.
