Golden Horn the one to beat in King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot

Frankie Dettori rides Golden Horn to victory at the Epsom Derby last month. Alan Crowhurst / Getty

LONDON // Golden Horn will run at Ascot on Saturday in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes as a far more physically impressive specimen.

The highest-rated three-year-old colt in the world went through his paces under Frankie Dettori in Newmarket on Tuesday morning alongside stablemate and likely rival Eagle Top, ridden by William Buick.

Owner Anthony Oppenheimer was also present.

After wins in the English Derby last month and the Eclipse Stakes three weeks ago, Golden Horn will bid to become the first horse to add the King George to those races since Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Nashwan achieved the feat in 1989. Only two other horses have done it since the race was inaugurated in 1951.

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“You can see he is strengthening through his neck and loins,” trainer John Gosden said at a news conference at the Kensington Roof Gardens.

“He has filled out since the Eclipse and is definitely going the right way.

“He’s a very good horse, but he’s still the equivalent of an 18-year-old kid.

“We are asking a lot of him and we are not being feint-hearted.”

In addition to Eagle Top, Gosden could also run Godolphin’s Romsdal as he looks to record a third victory in the all-aged middle distance contest after Nathaniel in 2011 and Sheikh Hamdan’s Tahgrooda 12 months ago.

Taghrooda’s victory will be honoured at the racecourse in a new initiative that will result in a huge floral sculpture of a galloping horse that will be dressed in the blue and white colours of the Minister of Finance.

“I might take my first selfie with it,” Gosden said.

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