Horse Racing Tips

King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes Trends Ahead Of 2026 Renewal

1 day ago

| BY Steve Mullington

In the week of Ascot’s first £2 million King George, set to be contested by horses from Britain, Japan, France and Ireland, the racecourse recently announced that next year’s renewal will be worth a British record £2.5 million.

Check out the latest horse racing betting odds at William Hill

Let’s take an extensive look at the trends and statistics for the King George in order to ascertain who will be taking home a cut of this still impressive prize purse for 2026:

AGE

The standout trend for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes is the massive dominance of four-year-olds and older horses, who have won 9 of the last 12 renewals.
No horse aged 7 or older has ever won the King George since it was founded in 1951.
Despite receiving an enormous 11lb weight-for-age allowance. Three-year-old rarely figure in this contest. They have won only 2 of the last 11 renewals (Enable 2017 and Adayar 2021).

WEIGHTS

3-year-old Colts & Geldings: 8st 12lb
4-year-old+ Colts & Geldings: 9st 9lb
3-year-old Fillies 8st 9lb
4-year-old+ Mares 9st 6lb
4-year-old Colts & Geldings (southern hemisphere):9st 5lb
4-year-old Fillies & Mares (southern hemisphere): 9st 2lb
Older southern hemisphere horses (5-y-o+) carry the same as their northern hemisphere counterparts.

RATINGS

10 of the last 12 winners arrived at Ascot with an official rating of 118 or above.
In 9 of the last 11 renewals, the winner was officially ranked as either the highest-rated horse or the second highest-rated horse in the field.
Horses rated 114 or lower are pretty much out of it. Over the last 20 years, runners racing below this mark are 0/54 in securing the win.

SIGNIFICANT PREP RACES

The Hardwicke Stakes and the Eclipse are the most significant domestic prep races for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
For three-year-olds, the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby are the stepping stones to this event.
The top prep route for French-trained raiders is the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Francis-Henri Graffard has repeatedly used this race as a springboard to Ascot.
The Japan Cup and the Autumn Tenno Sho are the two primary domestic races that the Japanese use to launch an assault on a European midsummer target.

STARTING PRICES

The starting price trend overwhelmingly favours horses at the top of the betting, making this race one of the most predictable Group 1 races of the season for punters out there.
Over 75% of the last 20 winners came from the top three in the market.