The £100,000 King George V Stakes is a cracking handicap and on that takes some solving. Run over a mile and a half, this race is for three-year-olds only so they are all getting better together which makes the race hard to judge.

In looking at the past ten winners we noted that they all carried between 8st 9lbs and 9-6, the average weight carried being 8-12.

Every winner was from what we’d term a ‘powerful’ yard too and while that’s more about opinion than fact, it’s something we are not ignoring.

Seven of those 10 winners had won last time out and one was second. Seven of their previous runs were over 1¼ miles, and while one was over a mile and a half, the other two over one mile were also significant.

One mile winner was Hukum who hadn’t run since his juvenile days owing to COVID, while Secret State had already won over 1m2f but needed another run in order to qualify for the race. A strong previous run over a 1m2f therefore is absolutely ideal.

Weight wise, we gave ourselves a tiny bit of wiggle room in keeping in all horses carrying 8-8 to 9-7. With all horses needed to fit into the aforementioned categories, we were left with only these six runners:

Main Contenders 

City Burglar

Way too big in the market is Ralph Beckett’s City Burglar, drawn in 2 and ridden by Silvestre De Sousa.

Second over 1m2f at Ascot last time, he did fade out slightly but it’s more than possible that going over a longer distance now will allow him to travel a little slower and save a bit for the finish.

He’s improving nicely, the only worry for a Cracksman colt being the quick ground.

Fouroneohfever

Young sensation Billy Loughnane rode his first Royal Ascot winner on Tuesday and surely there’ll be plenty more to come.

He rides this son of Too Darn Hot for George Boughey, a horse who is now on a four-timer having won three from three so far this season.

The handicapper may well be getting to him now, but we do like his profile. A 1m2f winner last time out at Chester, he’d previously seen out 1m4f at the same venue.

Gallantly

Aidan O’Brien has the favourite in this race in the shape of Chantilly, a horse with London Gold Cup form and the choice of Ryan Moore. We reckon he’s not the most intriguing runner from the yard though.

Wayne Lordan’s mount, Gallantly, has just the right profile and is too big a price.

After a quiet juvenile campaign Gallantly was beaten at odds-on in April, though the ground was heavy then and he may much prefer these conditions.

Last month at Chester he won a maiden over the magic 1m2f trip and did it nicely, being handed a mark that could vastly underestimate him and as a Frankel he should stay this distance.

Gilded Water

There is a royal runner here in the shape of Gilded Water who has just about qualified to run.

Having only made his debut in April, he was a good third last month at Windsor on bad ground. The runner-up there has since won too.

He won his maiden nicely last time out and looks primed for a big run, but he didn’t beat much and the ground may be a negative based on his pedigree.

Going The Distance

Ralph Beckett has a very strong hand in this race as it happens, his Going The Distance being another horse on a four-timer.

His lifetime form reads 311-1, while his latest victory was achieved in good style over 1m3f. That was on the all-weather however and as a Lope De Vega gelding, we can’t be 100% confident about the ground.

Naval Force

This horse may be a big outsider in the market but we reckon he can outrun his odds. He is a last-time-out winner and he may be well handicapped, though we’re conscious of the fact that he has handled soft ground well and hasn’t improved a whole lot since his debut.

Summary

Even with the help of being able to narrow this field down, we got five of our six shortlisted horses very close together on ratings.

Gilded Water and Going The Distance can both go well, but Aidan O’Brien’s GALLANTLY looks great value and can be backed.

Though he isn’t the first strong of the stable officially with Ryan Moore on Chantilly, he has a great profile for this race and should be well handicapped off this mark of 88.