George’s big date

Aidan O'Brien's four-year-old, who returned to Ballydoyle in mid-March after his fertility rate fell below expectations, is 5-4 favourite for the Group One race with Coral.

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"George Washington may not have made the grade at stud, but if he returns to somewhere near his best on the track, he's the one to beat over the Ascot mile," said Coral's David Stevens.

According to O'Brien, when George Washington went back to Ballydoyle from Coolmore Stud, where he was replaced by the three-year-old Holy Roman Emperor, he was "like a horse with five legs". But gentle care and persuasion have restored him into a racehorse again.

Radetzky's trainer Clive Brittain recalled yesterday the difficulties he faced of turning a hotblooded stallion back into a racehorse.

He said: "He was always a bit of a lad, even before he was a stallion.

"He went to stud but didn't get enough mares to make him commercial so his owner Curtis Elliot decided to bring him back into training.

"He asked if I'd get him ready for Ascot. I said I'd try as I knew he had a fiery temperament. I daren't put anyone else on him so I rode him myself.

"I got him civilised and eight days before Ascot I took him to Yarmouth for a gallop. I had to work him in the dark so that the only other animals he saw were deer and rabbits. I had to manoeuvre him backwards to get him to cooperate.

"But we got him there in the end and he won the Queen Anne by four lengths."

For the first few weeks George Washington presented the patient O'Brien with a similar nightmare, but he has trained well since and runs in the Queen Anne on the opening day of the meeting rather than in the Prince of Wales's Stakes.

He will be ridden by Mick Kinane, on board when he won last year's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at the track. The Irishman has been backed to be top jockey at Royal Ascot for a fifth time.

VC Bet cut him from 8-1 to 7-2 favourite and spokesman Neal Wilkins said: "He'll get plenty of attractive rides."

Kinane was last crowned top rider at the royal meeting in 2005.

FOUR WHO CAME BACK

HONEYWAY: Won the 1946 Champion Stakes — went to stud — but returned in 1947 to win three races and to finish third in the July Cup.

RADETZKY: Won the 1976 St James's Palace Stakes — went to stud in 1977 — but was returned to Clive Brittain in 1978 and won the Queen Anne Stakes.

ENVIRONMENT FRIEND: Landed the Dante and Eclipse in 1991 before going to stud in 1992. Returned to run well in Group races without winning.

GENTLEMAN'S DEAL: Won three times this year — including the Winter Derby. He covered 35 mares last year and is back covering another 40.