Excelebration heads the stars on supporting card

Excelebration at Royal Ascot – he was beaten out of sight by Frankel then, but won’t have him to worry about in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

The £1 million Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Europe’s richest mile race, has 13 going forward after today’s forfeit stage including Excelebration who has finished runner-up to Frankel on four occasions, including in this race 12 months ago, but gained a deserved Group One victory at Deauville in August.

The top class four-year-old now has the chance to step out of Frankel’s shadow and win the biggest race of his career.

The Queen could be represented in the race named in her honour by the 2011 Derby third Carlton House while Cityscape, brilliant winner of the Dubai Duty Free in March and second to Excelebration at Deauville, is set to take on that rival once again.

The one remaining filly is the ultra-consistent Elusive Kate from the John Gosden stable who was third to Excelebration and Cityscape at Deauville.

Frankel may be running 40 minutes later, but it still promises to be one of the mile races of the season.

A cracking contest is in store for the opening race on QIPCO British Champions Day, the £200,000 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup over two miles.

The 25 acceptors for this contest include last season’s victor Fame And Glory, plus the winners of four contests in the Stayer Category this season – Colour Vision (Gold Cup at Royal Ascot), Saddler’s Rock (Artemis Goodwood Cup) and Times Up (Weatherbys Insurance Lonsdale Cup and Stobart Doncaster Cup).

If Times Up were to succeed, it would bring down the curtain perfectly on the career of John Dunlop, who retires at the end of the season.

The second race on QIPCO British Champions Day is the £250,000 QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes over six furlongs.

The 32 acceptors include course specialist Society Rock, who gained a Series victory last time out in the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock Park and represents the stable of James Fanshawe, who landed the honours in this race last year with Deacon Blues.

Mayson, who won another of the Series races, the Darley July Cup, also remains engaged, together with a host of other high-class sprinters including last year’s runner-up, Wizz Kid, Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes runner-up, Spirit Quartz, and the close third from the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, Restiadargent.

Dandy Boy, who won the Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot in a faster time than the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, has also stood his ground.

Visit the Race Calendar page and click on the races for which you would like to see the latest list of acceptors.