Big Race History: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes
Ascot’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is a highlight of the summer flat season. The Group-1 contest – Britain’s most prestigious open-age flat race – has been won by some of the most famous racehorses of all time. The Roll of Honour includes Enable, Galileo, Dancing Brave, Shergar and Mill Reef.
The race, second only to the Derby in prizemoney, was first staged in 1951. It was an amalgamation of two separate Ascot races, The King George VI – a two-mile contest for three-year-olds held in October – and the one-mile four-furlong Queen Elizabeth Stakes, contested in July. In this day and age, the race is commonly referred to as “The King George”.
18/1 shocker: Pyledriver (red cap) landed the 2022 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes under former jump jockey, PJ McDonald. ©GettyImages
Here you can read our comprehensive guide to the history of this famous Group-1 race. Everything you need to know, from the winning most riders and trainers to the most successful age group for King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winners, is listed.
The Where and the When
British horse racing has two ‘King Georges’. There is a King George VI winners list that features the good and great of national hunt horse racing: Arkle, Pendil, Desert Orchid, Kauto Star et al. That Boxing Day contest is staged over three miles at Kempton Park and features 18 fences.
Understandably, search engines often confuse this chase race with The King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The flat contest is held in late July. And, except for 2005, when the track underwent a £185 million redevelopment, Ascot has always been home to the 12-furlong showdown.
Likewise, the race has always been broadcast on terrestrial television. The BBC and Channel 4 have covered the race live in previous years. ITV, who first broadcast horse racing in 1955, has shown the race since 2017. Since then, 3.35 pm or 3.40 pm has become the usual off time.
King George Recent Winners
| YEAR | WINNER | AGE | SP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Pyledriver | 5 | 18/1 |
| 2021 | Adayar | 3 | 9/4 |
| 2020 | Enable | 6 | 4/9 |
| 2019 | Enable | 5 | 8/15 |
| 2018 | Poet’s World | 5 | 11/2 |
| 2017 | Enable | 3 | 5/4 |
| 2016 | Highland Reel | 4 | 13/8 |
| 2015 | Postponed | 4 | 6/1 |
| 2014 | Taghrooda | 3 | 7/2 |
| 2013 | Novelist | 4 | 13/2 |
| 2012 | Danedream | 4 | 9/1 |
| 2011 | Nathaniel | 3 | 11/2 |
Recent King George Trends
Recent King George winners have come in all shapes and sizes. Enable won as a filly and also as an older mare. Three-year-old Adayar arrived at Ascot wearing a Derby crown. 2018 winner, Poets World was a veteran of 15 previous starts. Many were in handicap company.
If taking The King George on a 16th career start was an achievement, how would you rate the 1956 winner, Ribot? Italy’s greatest-ever racehorse defeated High Veldt by five lengths enabling him to continue an unbeaten sequence that ultimately resulted in 16 straight wins.
There have been 31 three-year-old King George winners. The classic generation receives an 11-pounds weight concession from older rivals, but it has not been a recipe for outstanding success in recent years. Whereas eight of the ten winners during the 1970s were aged three, four-year-olds dominated by the same ratio in the 2000s.
Only nine five-year-olds have won The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. But three of those have come since 2018. Enable became only the second six-year-old winner – when also becoming the only horse to win the race three times – in 2020. Ultimately, four-year-olds have enjoyed the most success this century. Over half of the winners since 2000 have fallen into that age bracket.
Small Fields Is the New Trend
A notable feature of recent King George contests has been relatively small field sizes. Over the last decade, an average of seven runners have contested the race. In 2020 Enable had just two rivals to beat. The 2021 and 2022 King George Stakes featured five and six runners.
Trainer Sir Michael Stoute, with the legendary Shergar (1981), Opera House (1993), Golan (2002), Conduit (2009), Harbinger (2010) and Poet’s Word (2018), tops The King George winners list. However, with five King George victories since Taghrooda scored in 2014, John Gosden could soon match Stoute’s numerical achievement.
Shergar gives Michael Stoute his first King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes success in 1981. The trainer – knighted in 1998 – has now won the race six times. pic.twitter.com/1ltmRz6C51
— Sports & Betting History by BestBettingSites (@CDCHistory) July 17, 2023
But the few runners that have contested The King George representing overseas stables have performed exceptionally. The King George winners list shows that German-trained horses landed the race in 2013 (Novelist) and 2012 (Danedream).
The French last won The King George in 2006 with Hurricane Run. Montjeu was another French winner in 2000. Dahlia was the most famous French-trained King George winner of all. The wonder-mare won the race in 1973 and 1974. She was the first Thoroughbred mare to earn more than $1 million in prize money, and she won races in five countries.
King George VI Winners Price Guide
The Starting Prices (SPs) of the recent winners make for some interesting reading. The biggest upset came in 2022 when the winner, Pyledriver, returned at odds of 18/1. In a six-runner race – seemingly dominated by Irish Derby winner Westover, Saudi Cup winner, Mishriff, and the Oaks second, Emily Upjohn – few could have predicted his victory.
To complete a good day for the bookies, the German-trained Torquator Tasso finished second priced on 16/1. Beforehand, the last King George winner to start at double-digit odds was King’s Theatre, who scored at 12/1 in 1994 for the late Henry Cecil.
However, The King George winner’s list does contain a significant number of market principles. Enable was the betting favourite for each of her three victories, and eight of the last ten winners came from the top two in the betting.
Between 1999 and 2009, seven King George winners went off as the shortest-priced horse in the betting. Since the turn of the century, fifty percent of King George winners have started as the horse racing betting sites favourite.
Pinpointing The King George Value
Numerically, Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien has had more King George runners than any other trainer. However, punters would be well behind if backing all his representatives during the past few decades.
Sir Michael Stoute has a debrief with jockey Ryan Moore after his horse, Derby winner Workforce, finished out of the frame in the 2010 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The combination would win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe later in the year. ©GettyImages
O’Brien has won the race three times – 2007 (Dylan Thomas), 2008 (Duke Of Marmalade) and 2016 (Highland Reel) – but with 30 previous runners, supporting all of his King George contestants would have produced an overall loss of over 20 points.
John Gosden’s five King George winners have aided his figures. But an additional 13 unsuccessful runners mean the trainer’s stats show a small loss on bets to level stakes. In contrast, Charlie Appleby’s 2021 winner, Adayar, gave him a perfect record in the contest. The Derby winner was his only ever King George representative.
What Comes Next for the King George Winner?
The Qatar Prix de l’Arc Triomphe, Europe’s most valuable race, is the logical next step for King George winners. However, in recent times, only Enable in 2017 and Dylan Thomas (2007) have been able to take both races during the same season.
Danedream, Hurricane Run, and Montjeu won both races, but their success came in separate years. In total, there have been ten dual King George and Arc winners. Seven of those were in the same season.
