Racing Preview: York’s Ebor Festival

York’s Ebor Festival begins on Wednesday and provides four days of good racing and entertainment.

Wednesday’s card includes the Great Voltigeur Stakes (Group 2) and Sir Michael Stoute’s much vaunted Telescope is favourite. The colt was beaten by a length in the Betfred Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock Park last time when 4/9f.

In the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes Al Kazeem faces five rivals in his bid to go five races unbeaten this season.

Roger Charlton’s horse has already won three Group One races this season: the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Group 1), the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Group 1), and the Coral-Eclipse (Group 1).

His rivals include Toronado, winner of the Qipco Sussex Stakes last time, and Irish Derby winner Trading Leather.

The rest of the week features the Darley Yorkshire Oaks, the Weatherbys Hamilton Insurance Lonsdale Cup, Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes, the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Gimcrack Stakes, and the Betfred Ebor Heritage Handicap.

Racing Preview: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes

The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes was first run in 1951 and over the decades has been won by some of the great racehorses. Previous winners of the prestigious race include: Nijinsky (1970), Mill Reef (1971), Troy (1979), and Galileo (2001). Dahlia (1973, 1974) and Swain (1997, 1998) are the only two horses to have won the race twice.

The winner of the 2013 running of the race will collect just over GB£ 600,000 and the French-trained Cirrus Des Aigles is the favourite to win. The gelding has run twice at Ascot before, winning the Qipco Champions Stakes in 2011 and was beaten in the same race a year later by Frankel by one and three-quarter lengths.

Speaking after defeat to Frankel last year, Cirrus Des Aigles’ trainer Corine Barande-Barbe said: "They were very close. We lost two lengths but we'll be better next year!”

The seven-year-old has only run once since that defeat in October 2012, when fifth and well beaten in the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in late June 2013. Andreas Wohler’s Novellist won the race and lines up against Cirrus Des Aigles again on Saturday.

Jim Bolger’s Irish Derby winner Trading Leather is also in the eight-strong field, as is Sir Michael Stoute’s Hillstar, who was supplemented for the race earlier in the week. The colt was the winner of the King Edward VII Stakes over course and distance at the Royal Ascot meeting last month.

The shape of Saturday’s race changed suddenly on Tuesday morning when St Nicholas Abbey was injured on the gallops in preparation for the race. The fractured leg has ended the colt’s racing career and he underwent surgery on Wednesday to try and save him for a career at stud.

The consequence for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is that Cirrus Des Aigles is now clear of his rivals on official ratings. But he will have to overcome the trend that a horse aged older than four has not won this race since Daylami in 1999 and no horse aged seven has ever won the race.