Buick lands plum ride on Crystal Ocean

William Buick has picked up the plum spare ride on Sir Michael Stoute’s Crystal Ocean in the £1.25 million King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, with Ryan Moore expected to ride Grand Prix de Paris winner Kew Gardens for Aidan O’brien.

The progressive four-year-old, unbeaten in three starts this season under Moore, is favourite for the Qipco-sponsored midsummer middle-distance championship on account of his two-length victory in the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot.

In reality, however, there is little between him and Stoute’s “second string”, Poet’s Word, who claimed Cracksman’s scalp in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. The pair bid to give Stoute, who shares the record for most King Georges with Dick Hern and Saeed bin Suroor, his sixth win.

They were among 14, including Cracksman – who will run only if any rain arrives – left in the race at the five-day stage. Defoe and Best Solution were the main two taken out yesterday, while O’brien has left a total of five in the race, including Irish Derby second, Rostropovich.

“He’s a great spare [ride] to pick up,” said Buick, who has won four Group One races this season and will sit on Sir Evelyn de Rothschild’s homebred later in the week.

Whether or not Frankie Dettori can ride the filly Coronet in the King George or, indeed, take the rides on Stradivarius and Without Parole will be determined today when his appeal against the Newmarket stewards who gave him a 10-day ban for careless riding is due to be heard by a disciplinary panel.