Hukum cut for King George as arrival of rain begins to take effect at Ascot

As rain swept across much of Britain on Saturday, a steady stream of money arrived for Hukum in Britain's all-aged middle-distance highlight, the Qipco-sponsored King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. 

Four weeks ago the ground at Ascot dried out too much for Owen Burrows to risk  Shadwell's six-year-old at the royal meeting, but Coral reacted swiftly after the rain fell by cutting Hukum to 5-1 (from 8-1).

Spokesman David Stevens said: "Any significant rainfall in the coming week will very much be in Hukum's favour, and the Shadwell-owned horse has already shortened for what is shaping up to be a King George for the ages." 

Ascot clerk of the course Chris Stickels reported the ground to be "heading towards good to soft" late on Saturday afternoon after between five and six millimetres of rain, although the forecast does not present much certainty over the next week. 

"We started with the ground good today, but we've had five to six millimetres so far with a few more showers this evening and we're now currently the slow side of good, possibly heading towards good to soft in places," said Stickels, who did not plan to update the going until after the current band of rain had passed through on Sunday.

"It's unsettled with the possibility of showers on a number of days, and it keeps changing. There might be the occasional shower on Sunday and Monday, while Tuesday now looks better, Wednesday looks okay and then there's showers again Thursday.

"There's not a huge amount of rain until Thursday, when it looks like we might get seven to eight millimetres. It's a bit of an unsettled picture, but that's the way it looks at the moment."

King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes (Ascot, Saturday)
Coral: 9-4 Auguste Rodin, 5-2 King Of Steel, 10-3 Emily Upjohn, 5 Hukum, Pyledriver, Desert Crown, 12 Luxembourg, 14 Westover, 20 bar.

Read more here

Owen Burrows: Hukum will need to be at the top of his game and more for strongest King George in years 

Savethelastdance hits 999-1 in-running before flying home to secure Irish Oaks glory at the Curragh  

'He came back for an encore but we've been on borrowed time with him' - 2021 Gold Cup winner Subjectivist retired  

Sign up here. New customers only. First single and each-way bet only. 5p minimum stake. 3 x £10 bet tokens. Free bet stakes not included in returns. Free bets exclude virtuals. Free bets are non-withdrawable. Free bets expire after 30 days. Eligibility restrictions and further T+Cs apply. 18+, begambleaware.org. Commercial notice: This article contains affiliate links. Offers are handpicked and come from operators that our experts have first-hand experience of. Opening an account via one of these links will earn revenue for the Racing Post, which will be used to continue producing our award-winning coverage of horseracing.