World’s best entered for £4 Million QIPCO British Champions Day

The winners of 90 Group 1s and 16 European Classics are among the entries for what is set to be a breath-taking 10^th anniversary running of QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday 16^th October, which this year offers prize money of £4 million. Save up to £20 on Queen Anne Tickets here

The cast of entries for the richest raceday in Great Britain, with prize money increased by 60% on 2020 levels, features the top two horses in the latest edition of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings in St Mark’s Basilica and Palace Pier. The pair are entered for both the QIPCO Champion Stakes, set to be the richest race in the UK this year with £1.2 million in prize money, and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO), also run for in excess of £1 million.

Runaway King George VI & Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes victor Adayar is joined by this year’s other British Classic winners in Poetic Flare, Mother Earth and Snowfall, who added the Juddmonte Irish Oaks to her Cazoo Oaks crown last month.

Adayar is one of 11 of Frankel’s progeny entered for this year’s QIPCO British Champions Day, with the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Famer winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at the inaugural QIPCO British Champions Day 10 years ago.

Other potential runners include last year’s QIPCO Champion Stakes winner Addeybb and the most successful QIPCO British Champions Series horse of all-time Stradivarius, who has 13 Series wins to his name.

The three impressive winners of the Group 1 and QIPCO British Champions Series races at the Qatar Goodwood Festival last week take their place, in the shape of Trueshan, Alcohol Free and Lady Bowthorpe. 

The three remaining pattern races on the card each offer a prize fund of £500,000, meaning prize money for this year’s QIPCO British Champions Day will total £4 million, cementing its position as the richest raceday in the British calendar and the only day to feature four Group 1 prizes.

John Gosden, whose eight wins on QIPCO British Champions Day include two with Cracksman in the QIPCO Champion Stakes and successive wins in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes with Persuasive and Roaring Lion, is a big supporter of the day and has the aforementioned Stradivarius, Palace Pier and this year’s Saudi Cup winner Mishriff among a typically powerful team this year. 

He said: “QIPCO British Champions Day has become the definitive season-ending meeting. It has attracted a much younger crowd, and with Group 1s from six furlongs to a mile and a half, as well as a very valuable Group 2 for stayers it provides a great array of opportunities.”

William Haggas, who won last year’s QIPCO Champion Stakes with Addeybb, is another big fan of the meeting. He said: “QIPCO British Champions Day is a huge and momentous occasion. It’s the culmination of a long season in Britain. Everyone wants to win there. The purists may think it is too late but it’s fantastic racing and it’s not always heavy.”

Oisin Murphy, who is on course to be crowned champion jockey for a third successive year, has ridden only one QIPCO British Champions Day winner so far, but with Alcohol Free among his likely rides this year he has high hopes of adding to his score.

He said: “QIPCO British Champions Day is the flagship day at the end of the season and a day that we all look forward to. We are trying to find horses for it throughout the year, and it attracts some of the best horses in the world. I remember seeing Frankel win at the first Champions Day, before I started riding, and that really put the day on the map straight away. Since then it’s taken off and gone from strength to strength.
“I’ve only won there once, on Roaring Lion in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes three years ago, and it would be lovely to add to the scoresheet.”