Emily Upjohn gets green light for King George at Ascot Emily Upjohn has received the green light to take her chance in the prestigious King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 29th. Initially, trainers John and Thady Gosden were hesitant to confirm the participation of the four-year-old filly in this midsummer highlight, following her commendable performance in the Eclipse last weekend. In that race, she narrowly went down by just half a length to Paddington, this year's star three-year-old colt trained by Aidan O'Brien, who enjoyed a weight advantage of 7lb. However, after careful consideration, the Gosdens are now eager to up Emily Upjohn in distance and see no reason why she should not go to Ascot. It is worth noting that Ascot was the location of her only disappointing run so far, in last year's race. Gosden senior said: "After a race like that you take stock, but I couldn’t be more thrilled. She’s in great form with herself, I had to canter her again quickly. "I'm very pleased with her and there’s no reason at the minute why she wouldn’t go to the King George." But one horse who might miss the King George is last year's Derby winner Desert Crown, who was absent from Royal Ascot after a setback. His trainer Sir Michael Stoute said: "We don’t know if we will get him ready in time (for the King George). He is back in fast work, so we will decide closer to the time. It’s a little bit tight time-wise." Gosden also had news of Mostahdaf, such an impressive winner of the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot. "He goes to the International, he should enjoy York as he likes to play around before the races like Stradivarius used to!" he told Racing TV. "We've had to space his races, he ran in the Neom Cup in Saudi which he won in February, he came back and then went to the Sheema Classic in March, in which he took on the world champion in Equinox and tried to race with him, which is a mistake. "He came back to a mile and a quarter and showed us what he could do in the Prince of Wales's in which he was very impressive. He came out of it super, he’s very full of himself every morning."
