Adayar to skip Eclipse and head straight to King George

Last season's Derby and King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes hero Adayar will miss the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown and instead head straight to Ascot to defend his all-aged middle-distance crown.

Having been due to make his four-year-old debut in the Coronation Cup at Epsom last weekend, a minor setback put plans on hold and he was similarly ruled out of next week’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The team at Godolphin’s Moulton Paddocks have now also drawn stumps on a proposed belated return in the Eclipse and he is set to make his seasonal comeback in the King George at Ascot, a race in which he beat Mishriff by a length and three-quarters last summer.

"We have decided to bypass the the Eclipse at Sandown Park and head straight to the King George at Ascot with Adayar," Appleby said in a tweet from the Godolphin account.

"He is back in full work and doing well, but we want to allow him plenty of time to build back up to race fitness."

The first Derby winner to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes since Galileo!