Cox Plate placegetter Highland Reel is likely to be trainer Aidan O’Brien’s only runner in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.
The four-year-old won the Secretariat Stakes at Arlington before running third behind Winx and Criterion in the Cox Plate last October.
At his next start Highland Reel took out the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin in December.
He was narrowly denied by the Queen’s Dartmouth in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot last month ahead of Saturday’s Group One target.
“Highland Reel looks like our runner in the King George,” O’Brien said.
“Sir Isaac Newton is also in there but Highland Reel may be our only runner.”
O’Brien has saddled three previous winners of the midsummer showpiece – Highland Reel’s sire Galileo (2001), Dylan Thomas (2007) and Duke Of Marmalade (2008).
