by Myra Lewyn

Duke of Marmalade will bid for his fourth consecutive Group 1 victory in as many starts this year and attempt to record the 14th Group 1 win of 2008 for trainer Aidan O’Brien in the $1,507,125 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Eng-G1) on Saturday at Ascot.
 
O’Brien has a three-pronged attack for the 1½-mile event that also includes multiple group stakes winner Macarthur and multiple Group 1-placed winner Red Rock Canyon.

Duke of Marmalade enters off a convincing triumph in the 1¼-mile Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) on June 18 at Royal Ascot. The four-year-old Danehill colt unleashed a determined bid in the final furlong and rolled to an easy four-length win over Phoenix Tower after beginning the year with wins in the 2,100-meter (10.43-furlong) Prix Ganay Grand Prix du 40th Anniversaire Air Mauritius (Fr-G1) on April 27 at Longchamp and the 1¼-mile Tattersalls Gold Cup (Ire-G1) on May 25 at the Curragh.

Johnny Murtagh, Duke of Marmalade’s regular rider this year, will be back aboard for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which will be the colt’s first start at 1 1/2 miles.

Two other Group 1 winners are entered for Saturday’s race—Youmzain and English classic winner Lucarno.

Jaber Abdullah’s Youmzain is well-seasoned at the distance and enters off a rousing victory over Soldier of Fortune in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-G1) on June 29. Although the half-length win was his first in 22 months since capturing the IVG Preis von Europa (Ger-G1) in September 2006, the five-year-old Sinndar horse raced creditably in between for trainer Mick Channon, finishing second to Dylan Thomas (Ire) in last year’s editions of the King George VII and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Lucien Barriere (Fr-G1).

George Strawbridge’s homebred Lucarno, winner of the 2007 Ladbrokes St. Leger (Eng-G1), soundly defeated King George entrants Papal Bull and Petara Bay in the Princess of Wales’s wbx.com Stakes (Eng-G2) on July 10 in his previous start.

Also entered is Patrick Fahey’s Ask (GB), who won the Bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes (Eng-G3) on April 25 at Sandown in his season debut after finishing second, a nose behind Cloudy’s Knight, in the Pattison Canadian International Stakes (Can-G1) on October 21 at Woodbine.

Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times Today editor