Little wonder Timeform rate this as the best King George since the likes of Swain, Helissio, Pilsudski and Singspiel locked horns in 1997.
There are seven Group 1 winners in the race. Ignore the pacemaker Robin Hood and that leaves you with last season's 6 length King George V handicap course and distance winner/St Leger runner-up Brown Panther and my mount Sea Moon, three-and-a-quarter length winner of an above-average Hardwicke last time.
So that gives you some idea of the depth to this race. It will take a hell of a lot of winning.
And I had a look at the prize money the horses in here have collectively won, too. I can't readily recall a race where the runners have accumulated so much earnings between them.
But what I can definitely tell you is that I have rarely looked forward to a race more, and I think Sea Moon goes into the race with strong claims.
He has a fair bit to find with a few of these. I think Danedream has the single best piece of form in the race and St Nicholas Abbey is the best horse judged on his overall form - those two comments are not contradictory, in my book - but I was really taken with Sea Moon at Ascot and we have been happy with him at home since.
He is hopefully still unexposed and on an upward curve, having just his ninth career start today.
I have said this before, but I think too much has been made of how unlucky Dunaden was when second to me in the Hardwicke. He clearly would have got a lot closer with an untroubled run but there was one occasion in the straight when he had a gap and didn't have the instant acceleration to take it. That trait and ability can often mark out top notch Group 1 winners, and you will have to be that to win this. And I hardly was all out to win either. Dunaden had three lengths to make up on me at the line - and then he had to try and get past me.
But, such is the quality on show here, you shouldn't be in a rush to write off any horse in this race, and Dunaden is a very likeable horse who happens to have a Melbourne Cup and Hong Kong Vase win on his CV. Not too bad.
Danedream is something of an enigma. She looked brilliant when winning the Arc by five lengths, and that is the best form on offer here going into the race. But she had a busy season and going to the Japan Cup, as she did in November, can bottom some horses for a while. She won a decent race well enough on her reappearance but her run at Saint-Cloud last time, when last of four, would worry me.
However, that was the second time she's disappointed at that track and the fact that they are running her so soon after suggests, to me, that maybe she has bounced back to form at home. If she returns to her Arc run, she will make double figure prices look very generous indeed.
You look back to that Arc run, and think that was so far and away her best form, that it must be suspect. And then you see Snow Fairy in third, So You Think in fourth and St Nicholas Abbey in fifth and that idea quickly goes out of the window.
St Nicholas Abbey is the best horse in the race on the entirety of his form, though. A lot is being made of his recent losing record when going right-handed. But that wouldn't overly-concern me - look at every race and you will see different reasons for each defeat - and I actually thought he ran a great race when fifth in the Arc, considering the race didn't go entirely to plan for him.
He was so impressive in the Coronation at Epsom last time, and he looked a stronger horse there too. Then you look back to his easy defeat of me and Sea Moon in the Breeders' Cup Turf and wonder how I can possibly fancy my chances of reversing the form?
The answer is simple: the prospect of soft ground at Ascot. If it rides soft, then I think that is a big negative to his chances. On good ground, he is the one to be feared.
You could only be impressed by Nathaniel's win in the Eclipse and, as I suspected before that race, I think he would have been close to 100 percent there. He won this race last year and it was always going to be important for his stallion prospects to have a 1m2f Group 1 win in the formbook. He looks rock solid in every aspect, though I suppose one nagging doubt is that he is backing up after only a fortnight.
And this is no ordinary race to be backing up in. And I look at the Sandown race and think 7yo Twice Over was far too close for that to be a good Eclipse. But I won't be underestimating Nathaniel.
The strength in depth really is something else here. How often must have a 3 length St Leger winner in Masked Marvel have been the outsider of the field, if you ignore the pacemaker. Granted, the ground doesn't look like being in his favour, though.
But I think Reliable Man could be the sneaky one in here.
I thought last year's French Derby winner ran an excellent race when fourth in the Prince of Wales's, and the step back up in trip will suit him. Although he has plenty to find on the book, his stable are in good form and he could be the "sleeper" in here at a price.
And then you have the unknown in Deep Brillante. I have the utmost respect for Japanese horses, and his win in their Derby last time shouldn't be underestimated. And he is the only three-year-old in the race.
But soft ground for him would worry me, as he would never have faced ground this testing. The Japanese tracks like Tokyo drain unbelievably quickly, the water seems to go straight through them. And I see he has pulled hard before. He will have to settle to give himself a winning chance. You have to switch off immediately at Ascot with the run downhill. If he doesn't, then he won't get home.
So, in summary, it will take a performance out of the top drawer to this win race.
I am hopeful that Sea Moon can provide it.