Azamour Leads Diamond Dozen

Ante-post favourite Azamour heads a high-class field of 12 that have been declared at the final 48-hour stage for the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Newbury this weekend.

All of the big guns including Bago, Grey Swallow, Ace, Eswarah and last year´s brilliant winner Doyen have stood their ground for the midsummer spectacle.

As expected, Aidan O´Brien has failed to declared Coronation Cup winner Yeats, with The Geezer and Godolphin´s pair Razkalla and Fight Your Corner, who were all entered at the five-day stage, failing to appear amongst the final entries.

Johnny Murtagh will take the ride aboard Sir Michael Stoute´s Princess of Wales´s Stakes winner Gamut while globetrotting Phoenix Reach will also take his chance.

Eswarah´s owner Hamdan Al Maktoum will be double-handed, with the eight-year-old Mubtaker also carrying his famous blue and white colours, while The Geezer´s trainer David Elsworth runs Norse Dancer.

Clive Brittain´s old warrior Warrsan and the supplemented French raider Policy Maker complete the line-up.

Richard Hills is due to partner Michael Jarvis´ unbeaten Eswarah, who has been rested since her length and a half success in the Vodafone Oaks at the beginning of last month.

The jockey told At The Races: 'We have been very pleased with her over the last 10 days and it is great that she has been declared this morning.

'She worked last week and worked very well. We just wanted to make sure that she came out of the work well. The boss wanted to make a final decision this morning, which he did.

'I think that she is going to get on extremely well on Saturday. She has won an Oaks, has only run three times and is still improving.

'She is very well. We were extremely pleased with her work the other morning and she gets a great weight allowance.

'I know a filly hasn´t won it for a long time, I think that Time Charter (in 1983) was the last filly, but it can be done, especially with a horse that is improving.

'The ground was very firm when I won a Listed race on her prior to the Oaks.

She is by Unfuwain and his horses are very versatile and can go on ground ranging from firm to soft.

'Saying that, I would like a bit of give as it can be hard for her but I would imagine that they have done a pretty good job at Newbury and it will be genuinely good to firm.'

The form of Eswarah´s Epsom victory has taken a few knocks in recent weeks, with the runner-up Something Exciting finishing just fourth in the Ribblesdale Stakes and the third, Pictavia, disappointing in the Irish Oaks.

'I am not worried about her overall form,' Hills continued.

'It is a hard thing to ask horses to go from Epsom to Ascot and you can just ignore that York form of Something Exciting.

'When you prepare them for a Classic you want them 100 per cent right and a

lot of horses just take a little bit of time to get over it.'

King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes betting:

Paddy Power: 9-4 Azamour, 10-3 Grey Swallow, 11-2 Bago, 7-1 Eswarah, 10-1 Ace, 11-1 Phoenix Reach, 12-1 Gamut, 20-1 Doyen, Policy Maker, Mubtaker, 40-1 Warrsan, 50-1 Norse Dancer.

Labrokes: 2-1 Azamour, 10-3 Grey Swallow, 5-1 Bago, 7-1 Eswarah, 9-1 Ace, 11-1 Phoenix Reach, 12-1 Gamut, 25-1 Doyen, Policy Maker, 40-1 Mubtaker, 50-1 Norse Dancer, 66-1 Warrsan.

? PA Sport