By Tony Calvin - 19 July 2026
There are currently 14 in Saturday’s King George – is this race not sponsored any more after Qipco pulled out? – and I am surprised Aidan O’Brien is only responsible for only five of them.
This genuinely has an interesting, international feel with two Japanese entries in Masquerade Ball and Wurttemberg and France hopefully represented by Calandagan and Goliath ( I still shudder at that Hardwicke bad beat…) as well as the Irish and UK involvement.
How many of the 14 stand firm we will know at midday tomorrow (Monday) but Calandagan is the current [7/4] favourite – he beat Kalpana in this race last year, and the mare is 10s – with Benvenuto Cellini at [11/4], Masquerade Ball at [7/2] and Goliath at 8s.
The one that is very weak in the market at the moment is Minnie Hauk, who is 12s with one firm (and 15.0 in a very illiquid Betfair market).
I am sure the last time I looked (a while ago now, admittedly) she was a 5s poke.
It appears 10 of the 14 have confirmed, including Minnie Hauk, which may surprise some (the last price matched on her, before the Betfair ante-post market was suspended on Monday morning, was 27.0 – the biggest price she has ever been).
She is also in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood next week but she is now 8s tops fixed-0dds (16.0 on Betfair as at 6.25pm on).
Almaqam, Convergent, Ancient Egypt and Causeway are the ones that haven’t taken up the offer.
I imagine Ascot, and the betting industry, will be very happy with eight runners on Saturday.
Very happy.
GOING: Good to firm
Going Stick – Straight: 7.8, Round: 6.4 (Monday 8am)
Soil Moisture: 43%.
MONDAY COURSE UPDATE: No rain recorded in July. A dry warm forecast for the next week. For access to our live weather station and for the latest Going info please go to www.ascot.com/thegoing
WATERING: Watering Straight Course 10mm on Monday. Watered whole track 5mm overnight to Monday morning and also to Sunday morning. Watered Straight Course 12mm on Friday. Watering Round Course 5mm each night.
Weather forecast: hot dry and sunny all week, 25-26 degrees
Moisture Meter reading – 32%
MONDAY COURSE UPDATE: A cool, cloudy and calm Monday morning. Dry since the John Smith’s Cup Meeting, 10th & 11th July. Met Office outlook for the week ahead; largely dry, with some cloud and sunny intervals. Chance of patchy light rain/drizzle on Wednesday. Temperatures near normal, 22 – 24 degrees Monday to Thursday. Live links to our weather station and the Met Office forecast can be found by clicking through on Going details on the Home Page of our website www.yorkracecourse.co.uk
WATERING: Irrigated overnight with 2mms replacing moisture lost.
Weather forecast: dry, sunny and 22-24 degrees
1.30pm York: Cayman Tai (has Thursday entries), Copper Knight, Dream Deal (due to run today, Monday), Equity Law, Goyard, Lipsink, Master Of My Fate, Rosenpur, True Promise
1.45pm Ascot: Blue Flight (due to run on Tuesday), Concorde Landed (due to run on Wednesday), Silent Beauty (due to run on Wednesday), Speed Of Sound, Velozee (Thursday)
2pm York: Fivethousandtoone, Getreadytorumble, Havana Run, King Of Light , Little Empire (due to run at Naas on Wednesday), Rock Opera, Trilby, Utmost Respect, Veblen Good (finished third at Ayr on Monday), We Never Stop
NB: Addison’s Grey, Apollo One, Coul Angel, Lakers, Musical Touch, Stratusnine and Trilby are in at Goodwood next week
2.20pm Ascot: Arisaig, Estissa, Mostar Dreams, Rumba Numba
NB: Arisaig, Mostar Dreams, Radiant Beauty, Secret Of Life are in at Goodwood next week
2.35pm York: Tiffany
2.55pm Ascot: Saytarr , Veblen Good (third on Monday)
NB: Room Service, Completely Random, Great Acclaim, Two Tribes, Mezcala, Back In Back, Extremely Zain, Leadman and Amazing Journey are in at Goodwood next week
3.35pm Ascot: NONE
NB: Minnie Hauk is in Nassau Stakes at Goodwood next week
On this week’s pod: 0-8 Intro: Golf and World Cup chat 8-11 Racing Review 11-13…
SUNDAY INTRO (9.43am) There are currently 14 in Saturday’s King George – is this race…
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