Which Auguste Rodin will show up in King George?

Auguste Rodin holds early favoritism for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday at Ascot – and could hardly run worse than he did as the race favorite a year ago.

Coming off wins in the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby, Auguste Rodin no-showed in the 2023 King George, finishing last of 10 as the 9-4 favorite in the Group 1, 1 1/2-mile fixture. On Thursday his antepost odds are 5-4, a considerably shorter price than a year ago, and a dicey proposition on a colt prone to clunkers who faces at least two foes capable of beating him.

The remarkable, rejuvenated Rebel’s Romance has won Group or Grade 1 races over 1 1/2 miles in America, where he captured the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf, in Germany, Dubai, and, most recently, in Hong Kong. He’s never won a English Group 1 and in fact gets his first chance there at the top level Saturday, when Rebel’s Romance seeks his fifth win in a row. Before capturing the Champions and Chater Cup in May at Sha Tin, Rebel’s Romance, who struggled through his 2023 campaign, landed the $6 million Sheema Classic at Meydan, a race in which Auguste Rodin finished 12th.

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The mount of William Buick, Rebel’s Romance figures a forward factor over an Ascot course rated good on Thursday and given a dry forecast likely to remain that way through Saturday. Charlie Appleby, who trains the Godolphin homebred, has further American adventures, including the BC Turf at Del Mar, on Rebel’s Romance’s schedule this year.

Meanwhile, trainer Aidan O’Brien has told overseas racing press that Auguste Rodin, perfect-trip winner of the 2023 BC Turf at Santa Anita, has the Nov. 24 Japan Cup as his major late-season goal. O’Brien said Auguste Rodin could make one start in advance of that trip. The BC Turf comes up Nov. 2, making that an unlikely target.

Auguste Rodin, regular rider Ryan Moore named, returned from Meydan and finished a well-beaten second behind solid but unspectacular White Birch in the Tattersalls Gold Cup over 1 5/16 miles. His Royal Ascot score in the 1 1/4-mile Prince of Wales’s at Royal Ascot fell more into the category of workmanlike than brilliant, though supporters might suggest Saturday’s longer trip plays to Auguste Rodin’s strength.

O’Brien also sends out Luxembourg, last-out winner of the 1 1/2-mile Coronation Cup at Epsom Downs, and the rabbit Hans Anderson. Expect Luxembourg to stalk Hans Andersen’s pace and move on him in upper stretch, setting the table – theoretically – for Auguste Rodin to come sweeping past.

Bluestocking rates as the King George’s other clear contender, the 4-year-old filly getting three pounds from older males Auguste Rodin and Rebel’s Romance. Bluestocking, a Juddmonte Farms homebred by Camelot trained by Ralph Beckett, managed to put together a strong 2023 campaign despite losing all six of her starts. She missed by a half-length in the Irish Oaks and was beaten just a neck in her major late-season target, the Group 1 Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes, run on a sodden Ascot course.

Bluestocking quickly demonstrated in the Group 2 Middleton over 1 5/16 miles at York that she’d wintered well, not only breaking through with an overdue victory, but winning the Middleton, contested on good ground, by six lengths. Though she traveled very strongly through the final quarter-mile at York, Bluestocking exceeded that performance in the Group 1 Pretty Polly, a 1 1/2-mile contest June 29 at The Curragh, where Bluestocking, racing over a soft-to-yielding going, ran down 2023 Coronation Cup winner, Emily Upjohn. The half-length margin fails to tell the whole tale, as Bluestocking and Rossa Ryan had Emily Upjohn measured, breezing past in the final 50 yards. The good 3-year-old Content, who got 12 pounds, was nearly four lengths back in third.

The King George is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series offering the winner automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Turf and travel expenses to California. Expect at least one of the runners to make that trip.

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