King George preview:  After Azamour's success at Newbury last year, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes returns to a revamped Ascot with a potential international thriller in store.

Godolphin's King George credentials are impeccable with the Dubai-based operation having won this race four times in the last decade and yesterday there was a palpable confidence in their big-race hope, Electrocutionist.

But even a versatile Dubai World Cup winner like him cannot compete for the exotic factor in this King George with the top-flight Japanese star, Heart's Cry, very much the exciting unknown quantity.

Already a winner in Dubai, Heart's Cry's reputation rests predominantly on a defeat last year of the Japanese superstar Deep Impact, who followers of the sport in the Far East insist is the best horse in the world right now.

Heart's Cry is the only horse ever to beat Deep Impact in 11 starts and he has been giving his connections all the right signals since his arrival at Luca Cumani's stables.

"Since he arrived his condition has improved every day," a spokesman for Heart's Cry's owners said yesterday. "He has finished his training programme and is in top shape. It has been a very hot summer which has helped him."

But if Deep Impact is the best in the east, then there was little doubt at the end of last year that the Arc hero Hurricane Run was the best in Europe and America.

A 130 rating from the handicappers on both continents only confirmed that. And there is little doubt the son of the 2000 King George winner Montjeu would be a raging hot favourite for this year's renewal if he hadn't run in the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud last month.

Montjeu won that same race easily before landing the King George in imperious fashion and it would be no surprise to see Hurricane Run do the same if back to the peak of his form.

But that's a big if, and there is the additional factor that Christophe Soumillon, replacing the suspended Kieren Fallon, has never won around Ascot and attracted quite a lot of flak for his Eclipse ride on Ouija Board earlier in the month.

But a six-runner field should be enough to ensure a clean race, free from trouble, and the other Godolphin entry, Cherry Mix, should guarantee a good pace.

If the big three are all in top form, it will be a race to savour and if he's back to his very best, Hurricane Run can emulate his dad once again.