Oxx Happy With Azamour

Azamour was yesterday reported to be in top form as he prepares to tackle a mile and a half for the first time in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes on Saturday.

The colt was a narrow winner of last season´s Irish Champion Stakes and also landed the Prince of Wales´s Stakes at Royal Ascot at York last month.

Both of those victories came over a mile and a quarter and he is favourite at around 2-1 with the leading bookmakers to take the extra two furlongs in his stride at Newbury this weekend.

'He´s fit and well and ready to go. He´ll just go through his normal routine this week,' said trainer John Oxx of the four-year-old, who is owned by the Aga Khan.

'We thought we´d try a mile and a half once and the King George is the race for it. We will find out on Saturday when he should get the fast ground he likes.

'We hope he will stay, but racing is littered with trainers and jockeys who believe a horse will stay and then being proved wrong.

'There will be some tough opposition out there. Grey Swallow looked good in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and is an Irish Derby winner - so he´s proven over the distance.

'If Bago returns to his Arc form then he will take some beating, as will Yeats if he reproduces his Coronation Cup run. His stable companion Ace was not that far behind us at York and the filly (Eswarah) is an interesting runner.

'It is boiling up into a very hot race.'

(C) PA Sport