From St Leger to San Isidro for King George challenger Sixties Song

The participation of Argentinian challenger Sixties Song has undoubtedly added a pinch of South American spice to this year's King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with the Alfredo Gaitan Dassie-trained runner set to become the continent's first representative to run in Britain.

The colt, who races as a four-year-old in the northern hemisphere despite having been foaled on September 24, 2013, was invited to the midsummer showpiece having landed the prestigious Group 1 Gran Premio Latinoamerico - the most important race in South America - at Valparasio Sporting Club in Chile on March 5.

That success was his second at the highest level, having become a first Group 1 winner for his sire when landing the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini on home soil at San Isidro in December last year.

With Argentinian form a far cry from what the remainder of the King George field are bringing to the table, it is easy to dismiss Sixties Song's credentials as inferior. However, what he does have in his favour is a pedigree worthy of rather more respect than current odds of 66-1 imply.

His form may be something of an unknown quantity, but he is by a sire we know plenty about in Sixties Icon. A son of Galileo and Oaks heroine Love Divine, Sixties Icon is best remembered for his victory in the 2006 St Leger - staged that year at York, with Doncaster undergoing redevelopment. But it is all too easy to overlook seven other wins, including a Jockey Club Stakes and four Group 3s.

Sixties Icon sees off Sugar Ray to land the 2008 Cumberland Lodge StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

He retired to Norman Court Stud in 2009, from where he has produced a steady stream of successful sons and daughters, including the Grade 2 winner Nancy From Nairobi and the Group 3 scorers Czabo, Epsom Icon and Chilworth Icon.

If Sixties Icon may not have reached quite the heights some expected, after the promise shown by his debut crop, he has made a couple of notable additions to his CV since first shuttling to Ricardo and Nicolas Benedicto's Haras La Pasion in Argentina in 2012.

It is from there that he sired both his Group 1 winners, Sixties Song and Crazy Icon, the latter having landed the Gran Premio Estrellas Classic earlier this year.

Sixties Song was bred by Haras Firmamento out of the Unbridled's Song mare Blissful Song, a winner in both Canada and the US, who was picked up for just $30,000 from the 2009 Keeneland November Sale. Blissful Song has already made her purchase look a particularly shrewd bit of business, as all three of her foals to have raced have won, including Sixties Son's Group 2-winning half-brother Celestial Candy.

Blissful Song is a half-sister to Celestial Woods, whose five winners include the Kitten's Joy pair Camelot Kitten and Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Bobby's Kitten. The latter is no stranger to these parts, having brought the curtain down on his racing career when blowing a Cork Listed race apart by eight and a half lengths on his sole start in Ireland. He retired to Kirsten Rausing's Lanwades Stud in Newmarket for the 2017 breeding season.

Blissful Song's dam is herself a half-sister to four black-type winners, notably Paradise Creek, a four-time Grade 1 winner and top-rated older horse in the US in 1994; Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap scorer Forbidden Apple; and Early Times Turf Classic Stakes victor Wild Event.

Also appearing beneath Sixties Song's third dam are Grade 1 winner Eden's Moon and three-time Group 1 winner David Junior, who came with a late rattle to defeat the likes of Notnowcato, Aussie Rules and Ouija Board in the 2006 Coral-Eclipse.

Further back in the family are the likes of champion runner Theatrical, whose haul of six Grade 1s includes a Breeders' Cup Turf and a Man O'War Stakes, and the talented Australian performer So Pristine.

While the strength of Sixties Song's form may be open to debate, a pedigree like that means that no hand of God will necessarily be required for the Argentinians to defeat the domestic challenge at Ascot on Saturday.