Owen Burrows stable star Hukum is all set for a tilt at the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes having not been seen since his seasonal debut in the Group Three Brigadier Gerard Stakes.
The six year old has been a special horse all the way through his career taking races like the King George V Stakes as a three year old at Royal Ascot, Group Three Geoffrey Freer Stakes on two occasions, Group Three Cumberland Lodge Stakes, Group Two Dubai City Of Gold Stakes in Meydan and his best success to date in the Group One Coronation Stakes at Epsom last year.
Not seen for almost a year after that success picking up a big setback injury, he returned this term over 1m2f in the Group Three Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown and showing an almighty turn of foot he went on to see off Derby winner Desert Crown to take the race.
After so long off it was a superb performance overcoming a slight bit of trouble in running and he was then set to head back to Royal Ascot for the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes but with the ground being too quick for him, he was withdrawn from the contest won by Pyledriver.
He is now all set to head back to Ascot for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and is set to take on the likes of Derby one-two Auguste Rodin and King Of Steel, Coronation Cup winner Emily Upjohn, 2022 Derby winner Desert Crown, Luxembourg and Westover.
“Touch wood, everything is going well and he’ll be running in the King George,” said Burrows. (Credit ATR)
“We’d like to see some rain, of course, we’d never want to go on rattling quick.“It was frustrating to miss the Hardwicke with him, but the King George is the big one for him.
“The King George has always been about the clash of the generations and this year that looks especially the case. We’ll see what turns up, but it looks like this year it is going to be a proper race.
“We were really pleased with him at Sandown, we’ve been happy with how he’s been since, so we’re really looking forward to running him.”