Librettist Going Head-To-Head With George

Bookmakers believe Librettist faces a stiff task against George Washington in what promises to be a mouth-watering renewal of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.

Aidan O'Brien's brilliant Stan James 2000 Guineas winner has been installed as the 6-4 favourite by Coral, who make the Godolphin runner a 100-30 chance, despite the latter having won the Prix du Moulin and the Prix Jacques le Marois on his last two starts.

It has hardly been plain sailing since the Guineas for George Washington and he was surprisingly beaten by Jeremy Noseda's Araafa in the Irish equivalent, although it was subsequently discovered he had picked up a muscle injury.

After a three-month break he returned to action at Goodwood in the Celebration Mile where, in a messy race, he had to settle for third behind Godolphin's Caradak and Barry Hills' Killybegs, who both feature among the 13 to stand their ground at the five-day stage for this weekend's showpiece event.

Librettist has been a revelation for Godolphin and, in a season which struggled to take off in its early stages, he has remained unbeaten, with his two Group One victories in France marking him out as the leading older miler.

'He goes into the race in good form and we are happy with him. We are looking forward to the race,' said trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

'He will be racing against the best horses and it will be a tough race, but Group Ones are always tough. But it's so far so good with him.

'He has won two Group Ones in France already to prove how good he is and we are really looking forward to running him again.

'It looks a really great race, the quality of the horses entered is very high and we'll find out on Saturday who is the best.'

Godolphin also have a more than useful string to their bow in the shape of 2005 Sussex Stakes victor Proclamation.

The King's Best colt has not been seen since the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, where he finished third behind Ad Valorem and Court Masterpiece at a time when Sheikh Mohammed's operation string were out of form.

'So far the plan is to run Proclamation as well,' continued bin Suroor.

'He worked two days ago and it went really well.

'We are happy with him, we have had no problems and this will only be his second race of the season. He is in good form.

'We went a little bit easy with him after Ascot but he looks back to his best now. He is in good form and we are happy with him.'

(C) PA Sport