Work needed to ensure this year's stellar King George is not just a flash in the pan
It is just like old times. Saturday's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes promises to be a stellar occasion, one to match the classics of the great race's heyday.
There have been plenty of good winners of the King George in the last decade or so but the Ascot contest has often lacked depth, both in terms of numbers and the horses who have run in it.
Nostalgia is not what it was, of course, but since the first King George in 1951 the race frequently featured the greatest middle-distance horses in Europe, not only among the winners, but also the horses they beat as well.
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