Ebor champion Litigant given Champions Day target

Oisin Murphy punches the air as Litigant wins the Ebor. Image courtesy of Racingfotos.com.

Trainer Joe Tuite has nominated the QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup on British Champions Day as Ebor winner Litigant’s next main target.

The seven-year-old provided connections with the greatest victory of their careers at York at the weekend and he is now being primed for a tilt at the Group 2 long distance contest at Ascot on Saturday 17 October.

Tuite believes Litigant will be more than able to cope with the step up in class.

“He has come out of the race in very good form,” he said. “I’m very happy with him this morning.

“We were pretty hopeful going into the Ebor. We thought he was well handicapped and thought he had genuinely good chance of performing well. It’s great when it all comes together.

“I have absolutely no worries about him stepping up in class. I genuinely believe he can compete at the top.

“All being well, he will have a couple of entries but I’d love to have a winner at Ascot on Champions Day.

“He’s quite fragile, so we need to make his next race count. We might only have one roll of the dice left with this fella.”

QIPCO British Champions Series Ambassador Oisin Murphy was equally excited about Litigant’s success.

Murphy, who spoke highly about the horse’s chance in his latest blog, said: “Saturday was just fantastic! The Ebor is one of the most competitive handicaps in the world and it’s so exciting for such a small team to have a horse like that to go to war with.

“He was a bit free early, which was a surprise as he wasn’t on the way to post and hadn’t been in his work, but turning into the straight I was shocked at how well he was going.

“The way that he travelled makes me think that he genuinely has the class to take the step up to Group level in his stride. He has enough pace to travel into a better race and obviously stays, which gives him every chance, but there’s the possibility of a bit more improvement to come from his first run back.

“You would think that with some ease in the ground the staying race on British Champions Day should be ideal for him.”

To book your place at QIPCO British Champions Day 2015, head to the ticketing website.