Andy Newton

Calandagan Can Defend Ascot King George Title, Says Andy Newton

by
Andy Newton
22 July 2026

Record pursuits, generational weight-pulls, and proven Ascot dominance collide at Ascot this Saturday, July 25th, in the 2026 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Heading the market is last year’s winner Calandagan, who proved his baseline top-class quality once again with a recent victory in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Master trainer Francis Graffard now has a legendary hat-trick in his sights-having taken the crown with Goliath in 2024 and Calandagan in 2025-a treble that would cement his modern dominance over this 1m4f contest.

Yet, the numerical headlines don’t end with the French.

Aidan O’Brien arrives chasing his fifth King George trophy, unleashing Benvenuto Cellini off the back of a decisive 1-2-3 Ballydoyle rout in the Irish Derby.

Getting 11lb from the older horses, the classic winner provides O’Brien with the tactical weapon needed to end a ten-year dry spell in the race and rewrite the Ascot history books.

Andy Newton’s Ascot King George Tips

🥇 CALANDAGAN
🥈 Masquerade Ball
🥉 Benvenuto Cellini

ALSO READ: Record £2.5M prize money locked in for 2027 King George as Ascot posts strong 2025 financial growth

Take Graffard To Join the King George Immortals with Calandagan

Calandagan

In the long, storied history of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, only two trainers have ever managed to win it three years on the bounce.

On Saturday, I genuinely think we’re going to see a third.

Up until now, Saeed bin Suroor and Sir Noel Murless were the only two names in the record books to complete that legendary King George hat-trick.

But French master Francis Graffard is sitting right on the brink of joining them.

Graffard has absolutely dominated this £1m Group One in recent times, firing in ‘back-to-back’ winners with Goliath in 2024 and the ultra-classy CALANDAGAN twelve months ago.

Both are lining up again this weekend, with Goliath looking to recapture his crown-something no horse since Enable in 2019 has pulled off.

That said, the 2024 champ is officially rated a massive 11lb below his superstar stablemate.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: what about that flop at Epsom in the Coronation Cup by Calandagan? Fair point.

But Graffard held his hands up right away after that run, admitting he probably shouldn’t have tested him on such deep ground.

He was remarkably candid about it afterward:

“I was upset with myself after Epsom. Today I thought Calandagan was sweating a little bit too much and I could see he was a little bit worried, so I was worried too. At the end of the orders, I said to Mickael [Barzalona], ‘Forget everything we said. Just ride him for himself. It doesn’t matter if he’s beaten, he just needs to get his confidence back.” – Francis Graffard

And boy, did that approach pay off.

Back on his preferred top of the ground at Saint-Cloud, Calandagan was back to his devastating best.

Sweeping through to land the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud

WATCH: Calandagan bouncing back to win at Saint-Cloud earlier this month:

If you draw a line straight through that Epsom run, this five-year-old has actually won six of his last seven outings.

That includes a decisive one-length victory over Kalpana-who also reopposes on Saturday-in last year’s renewal.

He gets his favoured fast surface again this weekend, and he arrives at the Berkshire venue boasting a course record reading 1-2-1-1.

Quite frankly, it’s almost impossible to poke holes in his profile.

Sitting on a mark of 130-a full 2lb clear of his nearest rival, Masquerade Ball (128)-Calandagan is my strong selection to outclass this field once more and etch his name into the history books as a two-time King George winner.

Which is why Calandagan leads the way as the main Ascot King George tips for me.

Benvenuto Cellini The Main King George Threat To Calandagan

Taking on the French star is the recent Irish Derby hero Benvenuto Cellini, representing Aidan O’Brien as the trainer chases an incredible fifth victory in the race.

I won’t waste time dissecting the much-debated Epsom Derby non-runner drama here, but credit where it’s due: he showed real class to bounce back and stamp his authority on the Irish Derby next time out.

As a three-year-old, Cellini gets a very handy 11lb weight-for-age allowance. When you factor in his official rating of 119, that allowance brings him right onto a par with Calandagan’s 130 on paper.

Yet, as good as he’s been in a standout season for Ballydoyle. I still have a few lingering question marks:

Yard Form: The O’Brien stable has felt just a touch quiet by their own exceptional standards over the past few weeks.
Experience: Cellini has only raced six times in his entire career, compared to Calandagan’s 17 runs.
Ascot Debut: He’s yet to set foot on the track at Ascot. While that’s not a complete dealbreaker, when you’re going toe-to-toe with a monster who is 3-from-4 over this course, that proven track record carries huge weight for me.
3yold Record: Plus the last 3yold to win the race for former Epsom Derby hero Adayar in 2021 – meaning the older horses have held sway in recent times.

WATCH: Benvenuto Cellini’s decisive victory in the Irish Derby:

Japanese Raider Masquerade Ball Hoping For King George Party

Huge respect has to go to the Japanese team for sending over both Masquerade Ball and Wurttemberg for a crack at Ascot.

Oisin Murphy takes the ride on Masquerade Ball, and while they certainly have their work cut out. The Takahisa Tezuka-trained colt is absolutely no back-marker.

This 128-rated son of a Japanese superstar line (closely related to Deep Impact) came within a head of beating Calandagan in the Japan Cup at Tokyo back in November.

He’s bagged four wins from nine starts and has literally never finished outside the top three in his life.

Doubters will point out that this is his very first run outside of Japan, let alone at a testing track like Ascot.

That’s fair, but he has consistently displayed top-tier Group One form, and I expect him to be right in the shake-up when the whips are cracking.