Calandagan Aiming for Back-to-Back King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes Wins At Ascot in 2026
The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, run over 1m4f at Ascot, is set for 15:35 on Saturday, 25 July 2026, and it is already looking like another cracker of a renewal.
We’re still a little too far out to have a really clear picture of which runners will take to the stalls, but on the plus side, bookmakers have some decent value in their antepost markets.
They have installed Calandagan, trained by Francis‑Henri Graffard, as the clear favourite to repeat his 2025 King George success.
Since that first King George win in 2025, Calandagan has added top‑level victories in the Champion Stakes (also at Ascot), the Japan Cup, and the Dubai Sheema Classic, ensuring that he arrives back in the UK as one of the elite middle-distance runners in Europe.
With the 2026 renewal now worth a guaranteed £2 million, making it the richest race ever run on British turf, another King George win would further underline Calandagan’s standing at Ascot and in the modern history of the race.
Benvenuto Cellini Nipping At His Heels
It almost feels surreal to be writing about one of the biggest flat races in the UK and not discussing an Aidan O’Brien‑trained horse as the antepost favourite. With Royal Ascot betting tips still fresh in the mind for many racing fans, the idea of a King George market headed by a French‑trained star rather than a Ballydoyle runner takes some getting used to.
But, as rare as that is, O’Brien won’t be resting on his laurels and fully plans to saddle his stable star, Benvenuto Cellini, with additional options in Christmas Day, Action, Minnie Hauk, and Constitution River.
Benvenuto Cellini, the Frankel colt, won the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh in June 2026, giving Aidan O’Brien an eighteenth success in the race.
Earlier in the season, he had already advertised his 1m4f credentials with a dominant victory in the Group 3 Boodles Chester Vase, before all of the drama that ensued at Epsom when his hind leg got caught in the starting gate, and his race was declared void.
As a three‑year‑old Irish Derby winner stepping into all‑age company at Ascot with a weight allowance, he has a solid platform to tackle Calandagan over 1m4f.
Masquerade Ball Cannot Be Discounted
Currently sitting between Calandagan and Benvenuto Cellini in the antepost markets for the King George is Masquerade Ball, a Japanese‑trained colt, from trainer Takahisa Tezuka.
Primarily run in Japan, Masquerade Ball has notched up some incredible wins, namely in the Tenno Sho, before he took on Calandagan in the Japan Cup, where he was beaten by the narrowest of margins.
He has since finished second in the QEII Cup at Sha Tin and looks set to arrive at Ascot fresh and with a real opportunity to overturn his Tenno Sho disappointment.
As with Benvenuto Cellini, his participation is still just a possibility, but his price indicates that if he does line up, he is the most likely to challenge Calandagan for supremacy.
Francis‑Henri Graffard’s Rising Profile
Francis‑Henri Graffard has emerged over the past decade as one of the most prominent French trainers on the international flat racing circuit.
Since his first major win in the Grand Prix de Paris in 2015, his reputation has been shaped by increasingly bigger and more frequent wins across France, Britain, and further afield.
Calandagan has been central to that rise, providing a King George victory and subsequent top‑level successes at Ascot and around the world.
Graffard’s current team includes several horses entered in the 2026 King George, with Calandagan joined in the antepost lists by Goliath and Daryz, the 2025 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner who pipped O’Brien’s Minnie Hauk to the winning post.
It is also worth noting that while Calandagan won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2025, Graffard also won the race in 2024 with Goliath, so he absolutely knows how to win the Ascot Group 1.
Winning Trends To Note
As we head into another two-day festival at Ascot, it’s worth noting that historically, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes has been dominated by horses who already have Group 1 or Group 2 form over 1m2f to 1m4f.
Previous winners have often arrived from races like the Coronation Cup, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Hardwicke Stakes, or, as we’ve seen from Graffard’s last two wins here, major international equivalents. Basically, this is not the race for unproven horses.
Age and weight trends also play a significant role, and while three‑year‑olds receive a substantial weight allowance from older horses, they don’t win as often as four and five-year-olds who have won six of the last ten renewals.
At the same time, a couple of six-year-olds have been victorious, namely Hukum in 2023 and Enable when she won for the second time in 2020.
Interestingly, this is not a race dominated by Aidan O’Brien, who last won this race in 2016 with Highland Reel.
£2 Million On The Line
The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is one of Ascot’s flagship events and, alongside Royal Ascot, is a central highlight of the British Flat season. The race is named in honour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and has long been regarded as a key test for runners who want to take their chances further afield in Europe and beyond.
From 2026, Ascot has confirmed that the King George will carry prize money of £2 million, making it the richest race ever staged on British turf.
For Calandagan, already a King George, Champion Stakes, Japan Cup, and Sheema Classic winner, a second King George victory would represent both another major Ascot triumph and an addition to a record that spans several of the world’s most important races at this trip.
