2023 King George Qatar Predictions - Burke's sprinter can land a blow in Friday's feature

Highfield Princess is going to take plenty of beating in this Group Two. John Quinn's filly produced one of her best performances of last season on soft ground at the Curragh. Being drawn in stall three is fine and the favourite will carry no Group One penalties in Friday's feature.

That being said, Highfield Princess clearly isn't in the same sort of form she was last season. As we saw in the two sprints at Glorious Goodwood, these races can throw up surprise results, so I feel like it's worth taking the favourite on at 10/11.

Nymphadora would probably have been my selection if this race had been run on Wednesday, but with little rain forecast on Thursday and into Friday, the ground looks likely to turn against her. Fellow filly Ladies' Church could play a big hand, if able to reproduce her best form on British soil.

The one who peaks my interest most is SILKY WILKIE (20/1), who has produced to performances this season that would put him in the discussion for the places, at the very least.

Karl Burke's four-year-old announced he was better than a mere handicapper at Musselburgh back in April, registering an RPR of 114 in beating future two-time winner Vintage Clarets by five lengths. Silky Wilkie then ran a blinder under top-weight in the Epsom Dash, losing out to Navello by a short-head, when giving the winner almost a stone-and-a-half at the weights.

Richard Kingscote's mount ran another solid race at York last time out, finishing second to Nymphadora in the City Walls Stakes. This will be Silky Wilkie's first start at Group Two level but, if you take Highfield Princess out of the equation, this isn't a strong race for the grade and a reproduction of his best form this season should see Burke's progressive four-year-old get involved.