AIDAN O’Brien’s Highland Reel heads the latest confirmations for the £1,150,000 G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot this Saturday.

Britain’s premier all-aged, middle-distance contest takes place over a mile and a half.

Successful by a length and a quarter in the 2016 renewal, Highland Reel is now bidding to become only the third dual winner of the big race following Dahlia (1973 & 1974) and Swain (1997 & 1998).

A six-time G1 winner across three continents, Highland Reel was last seen out when successful in the 10-furlong G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 21.

Ireland’s champion flat trainer O’Brien will be seeking a fifth win in the Ascot highlight and has also left in Highland Reel’s full-bother Idaho, victorious over the course and distance last time out in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes on June 24.

He has also entered G3 International Stakes scorer Johannes Vermeer and US Army Ranger, the 2016 Investec Derby runner-up.

Meanwhile, Enable (John Gosden) will attempt to become the third three-year-old fillie to complete the Epsom Oaks-King George double in the same year after Pawneese (1976) and Taghrooda (2014).

Owned by Khalid Abdullah and from the first crop of 2011 King George winner Nathaniel, Enable added to her Epsom Classic success with a comfortable victory last time out in the G1 Irish Oaks on July 15. A final decision on her participation at Ascot on Saturday was confirmed on Wednesday.

Gosden could also be represented by the Godolphin-owned Jack Hobbs, successful in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March. The five-year-old Halling horse needs to bounce back from a disappointing eighth behind Highland Reel in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes last time out.

Godolphin, also after a fifth King George success, have four others going forward in the Charlie Appleby-trained pair of Hawkbill and Frontiersman, who were first and second respectively in the G2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket recently, plus Benbatl (Saeed bin Suroor) and Maverick Wave (Gosden).

Final declarations take place at 10am tomorrow (Thursday).

The two-day festival then kicks off this Friday before the main event on Saturday, with gates opening at 11am both days.