International spotlight: Top-class quintet in 2025 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth

Saturday’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth (G1) at Ascot is not only a fascinating clash of five Group 1 winners, but it also holds additional interest for our side of the pond as a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1).

While two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf champion #4 Rebel’s Romance (5-1) is the contender most familiar to stateside players, the Godolphin veteran is no better than the fourth choice in the early betting. That’s largely because he’s spent more time globetrotting than seeking major trophies at home. 

The two vying for favoritism – Aidan O’Brien’s #3 Jan Brueghel (9-5) and French raider #1 Caladangan (8-5) – fought out the finish of the June 6 Coronation Cup (G1) at Epsom. Jan Brueghel prevailed that day, but Calandagan has since come back to dominate the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1). They have relative youth on their side as four-year-olds. So does the lone filly, Juddmonte’s #5 Kalpana (4-1), who returns to her ideal trip after a pair of sparkling efforts in defeat going shorter.

It's a measure of the quality of the field that even Jan Brueghel’s pacemaker, #2 Continuous (99-1), was a classic winner in his own right at his peak. The 2023 St Leger (G1) hero has failed to progress as hoped as an older horse, however, and that’s prompted his repurposing in support of Jan Brueghel, his successor as the 2024 St Leger winner.  

Let’s look at the respective claims of the principals. 

Race 6, 11:10 a.m. ET – King George VI & Queen Elizabeth (G1)

Much of the pre-race discussion has focused on the rematch between Jan Brueghel and Calandagan. There’s a logical argument to be made that the Coronation Cup conditions played more to the strengths of Jan Brueghel, and that Ascot suits Calandagan better.

Calandagan routed last summer’s King Edward VII (G2) at Royal Ascot over this same 1 1/2-mile distance, on quick ground that he’ll encounter on Saturday. In his only other appearance here, the Aga Khan homebred was a tough-trip runner-up in the Oct. 19 Champion (G1). 

The one knock on Calandagan had been his seconditis in Group 1s. Aside from his Champion effort, he’d played second fiddle to Ballydoyle superstar City of Troy in a course-record Juddmonte International (G1) at York, and the pattern continued in this season’s Dubai Sheema Classic (G1) and Coronation Cup. 

But Calandagan eliminated that talking point at last with a breakthrough in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. The Francis-Henri Graffard trainee burst 3 1/2 lengths clear of the high-class filly Aventure, who had been runner-up in last fall’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1). 

Jan Brueghel has not raced since the Coronation Cup, where Calandagan appeared to be fighting with Epsom’s famous camber as much as with his opponent. Aside from the peculiarities of the track, the race shape also served Jan Brueghel well. Continuous did his job to set a demanding pace on rain-affected ground, putting a premium on Jan Brueghel’s stamina. Calandagan did well to accelerate as sharply as he did, but he could not win the war of attrition with Jan Brueghel.

Saturday’s conditions will be more congenial to Calandagan, and as a recent Racing Post analysis revealed, the Coronation Cup form tends to be reversed in the King George. Yet is it as simplistic as that?

Jan Brueghel is effective on good-to-firm as well, as illustrated by his victory in last summer’s Gordon (G3) at Glorious Goodwood. Moreover, the son of Galileo remains lightly raced with a career mark of 5-for-6, suggesting that we might not have seen the best from him yet. Jan Brueghel’s penchant for close finishes implies that he won’t be denied in a dogfight, or alternatively, that he has a bit more in hand than he lets on. The fact that he adds cheekpieces here could mean that he’s been saving something in reserve. 

Continuous promises to make it another searching test of stamina like the Coronation Cup, in hopes of taking something out of Calandagan’s late kick. The French gelding will have to outkick Jan Brueghel or else face the prospect of another protracted duel. 

The race shape may not help Rebel’s Romance, who was third in a strongly run King George last year. But the seven-year-old proved that he’s as good as ever by capturing the June 21 Hardwicke (G2) over this course and distance. I could be guilty of underestimating him again, although this is a deeper spot. 

Kalpana was the one I really wanted to see in the Hardwicke, but she ended up skipping it once the ground was too quick. Connections are sticking to the King George plan, even though they would have preferred more rain, as a means to building up to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. 

The antepost Arc favorite earlier this season, Kalpana was a rampant improver at three who scored her signature win on soft ground here in last fall’s British Champions Fillies & Mares (G1). The Andrew Balding filly has continued in that vein this year by placing in both of her starts at the Curragh, in Group 1s with eye-catching collateral form. 

Resuming versus males in the about 1 5/16-mile Tattersalls Gold Cup (G1), Kalpana didn’t have the clearest passage when beaten all of 1 1/2 lengths in third by O’Brien’s top-class Los Angeles. Runner-up Anmaat, who beat Calandagan in the 2024 Champion, has since placed second in the Prince of Wales’s (G1) at Royal Ascot. The sixth-placer in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, Ghostwriter, came back to finish third to Rebel’s Romance in the Hardwicke.

After Kalpana passed on the Hardwicke, she was rerouted to the Curragh for the 1 1/4-mile Pretty Polly (G1). She was odds-on to beat fellow distaffers, but she could not quite give 12 pounds to the sophomore Whirl, who was coming off a near-miss in the Oaks (G1) at Epsom. Kalpana had to settle for second, but again acquitted herself admirably.

Considering that Kalpana thrived in the second half of 2024, she may be poised for a step forward back up to her 1 1/2-mile wheelhouse on Saturday. Softer ground would make her a bigger threat, but she can act on good going. A respectable effort in this spot would validate her Arc candidacy.