Mick Kinane ready to answer Sir Michael Stoute's King George call

Top class: Michael Kinane and Sea The Stars
Simon Milham13 April 2012

Mick Kinane is out to strike another blow for senior sporting stars at Ascot after being called-up by Sir Michael Stoute to ride one of the trainer's trio in the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Golfer Tom Watson may have just failed to make history in yesterday's Open but 50-year-old Kinane is another veteran showing he can still beat his younger rivals with multiple Group 1 successes aboard Sea The Stars this season.

Stoute has won the £1million mile-and-a-half contest three times in the past, first with the great Shergar in 1981 and then more recently with Opera House (1993) and Golan (2002).

Stable jockey Ryan Moore will have his pick of the yard's trio for this year's race from Conduit, Tartan Bearer and Ask. The champion rider says that he has yet to make a firm decision, but Peter Reynolds, racing manager to Ballymacoll Stud who own the first-named pair, has said that he expects Moore to partner Conduit, on whom he won the Breeders' Cup Turf last season.

That would leave the door for Kinane to come in for the mount on Tartan Bearer.

However, the participation of Coronation Cup winner Ask, for whom Frenchman Olivier Peslier has been provisionally booked to ride, is likely to hinge upon ground conditions, with fast going likely to see him re-routed elsewhere.

Simon Christian, racing manager to owner Patrick Fahey, said: "Sir Michael tells us that Ask is working well and it looks like it's shaping up to be a good race, but if it's firm then I imagine we'll be going elsewhere. I thought he deserved to win his Group 1 at Epsom and he wouldn't have been suited by the slow pace."

The going at Ascot is good to firm, good in places, but further rain is forecast this week.

HillS: 15-8 Conduit, 4 Tartan Bearer, 6 Golden Sword, 8 Look Here, 10 Ask, 12 Cima De Triomphe, 14 Duncan, Doctor Fremantle, Frozen Fire, 16 bar.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in