Torquator team target King George but Prescott aiming elsewhere with Alpinista

Last season's shock winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Torquator Tasso is to be prepared for a tilt at the Qipco-backed King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes.

On Monday trainer Marcel Weiss described Ascot's £1.25 million showpiece on July 23 as his preferred target after Torquator Tasso rebounded from a flat opening run of the season to overwhelm his rivals in a Group 2 at Hamburg on Saturday.

Torquator Tasso's form received another major boost on Sunday when his Grosser Preis von Berlin conqueror Alpinista landed the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

But a rematch will have to wait until the Arc itself on October 2, with Sir Mark Prescott describing a bid for King George glory as "unlikely".

"I was very relieved by Torquator Tasso's performance," said Weiss, who had been forced to listen to plenty of criticism of his stable star after a sixth-placed effort on his first start since the Arc in May.

"I expected him to take a big step forward from Baden so I wasn't surprised, but there is still always a lot of pressure with a horse like him. Beforehand he would have been expected to beat that field on paper but he really outclassed them."

Asked if he believed Torquator Tasso has improved this season, Weiss pointed to the circumstances of his eased-down three-and-a-half-length victory in the Grosser Hansa-Preis.

"He has matured mentally and is much more serious in his work, while he has become much easier to ride," said Weiss.

"He changes gear quicker than last year and the really encouraging thing is that they went no pace on Saturday, and while that might have posed a big problem to him before, he was able to pick up easily.

"I think if they'd gone faster he would have won even more easily. He has become a very easy ride."

Marcel Weiss and jockey Rene Piechulek after Torquator Tasso sprung a 79-1 shock in the Arc last OctoberCredit: Edward Whitaker

Weiss and owners Gestut Auenquelle have stuck to their plan for the season thus far and with a defence of the Grosser Preis von Baden and then the Arc already inked in for the autumn, Saturday's success is swaying connections towards the King George.

"The preference is to go to Ascot although no final decision has been made," said Weiss. "He'll have a decent piece of work and we'll decide after that. The alternative is to go back to the Grosser Preis von Berlin the same weekend."

Coral make Torquator Tasso a 10-1 chance for the King George.

A return to France for the Prix Vermeille on Qatar Arc Trials day is the preferred next race for Alpinista following her impressive return to action at Saint-Cloud.

An alternative trip to the Knavesmire for the Darley Yorkshire Oaks could also come into the reckoning for Kirsten Rausing's four-time Group 1 winner but trainer Sir Mark Prescott has ruled out the King George.

Alpinista: winner of the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on SundayCredit: Scott Burton (racingpost.com/photos)

Alpinista shrugged off a 238-day absence when putting away an all-star field at Saint-Cloud, earning quotes of 14-1 for the Arc, a race for which she has specifically been kept in training.

Prescott said: "I was delighted, not because she'd been off but because we'd had such a struggle to get her right. I don't think she's a filly that is disadvantaged by a layoff.

"But the fact that she’d been looking so woolly in her coat for so long was obviously a major worry. I'd have liked the race to have been Thursday this week but there you are, I was obviously wrong."

Alpinista wasn't due back at Heath House until Monday evening but Prescott is inclined to give the daughter of Frankel a course-and-distance-trial in a race that has thrown up four Arc winners since 2008.

"I would have thought that she would go the conventional route of Prix Vermeille and if all went well the Arc," said Prescott.

"I'd look at the Yorkshire Oaks but I would think the King George is unlikely. I'd do the Vermeille or the Yorkshire Oaks and I think the Vermeille is the likely one. It's the accepted route and I can quite see why."

Alpinista left a field that included Group 1 winners Hurricane Lane and Mare Australis strung out, but Prescott is sceptical there remains bundles of improvement, despite the long absence.

"You would have thought she'd improve a tiny bit but she ran so well there that you rather doubt it," said Prescott.

"I've always thought her best ground would be on top but her claim to fame really is that she's straightforward, which makes your life easier."

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