QIPCO Champion Stakes brimming with quality at five day entry stage

Roger Varian hopes that Frankie Dettori will enjoy the perfect send-off when he partners Derby runner-up King Of Steel for the first time in public in another red-hot renewal of the afternoon’s main feature.

The 11 confirmations for the £1.3m climax to the Middle Distance category of this year’s QIPCO British Champions Series include last year’s winner Bay Bridge, as well as the impressive Prince Of Wales’s and Juddmonte winner Mostahdaf and his equally talented stable-mate Nashwa, plus rising French star Horizon Dore. 

Additionally, Aidan O’Brien can call upon Paddington and Point Lonsdale, although the former is reportedly a more likely runner in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO).

Varian is in positive mood about Amo Racing’s giant three-year-old King Of Steel, who was most recently seen finishing a very close fourth behind his old rival Auguste Rodin in the Irish Champion Stakes.

He said: “Regardless of whether Frankie is signing off or not, I think he’ll suit the horse, and I think the race will suit him too. He came and rode him and he was happy with him. It won’t be an easy race, but both horse and jockey go there in good form. I wouldn’t swap him.

“He’s been training great and he looks terrific. They tell you when they are right, and he’s telling us right now. The Breeders’ Cup isn’t completely off the table, but the QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot comes first of course and that’s where our focus lies.”

Bay Bridge was most recently sixth behind Ace Impact in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe over a trip which stretched his stamina, but he has looked as good as ever this year when conditions have been right for him.

James Wigan, who owns the five-year-old in partnership with Ballylinch Stud, said: “It was a thrill to win the QIPCO Champion Stakes last year and to be able to try to do it again. Bay Bridge did a bit of work with Ted Durcan on Saturday and apparently went nicely. He will be running all being well.

“I thought he ran a very good race in the Arc. It was quite a tough race but he is a tough horse. I just think he didn’t quite stay. It is different at that level from winning over the trip at a lesser level like he did at Kempton.”

Plans for the Gosden pair of Mostahdaf and Nashwa hinge upon the weather, with John Gosden, who shares the licence with his son Thady, having warned at the end of last week that he wouldn’t want to see it too testing for Mostahdaf, in whose absence Nashwa would be more likely to run here than in the QEII, in which she is also engaged.

Gosden said: “Mostahdaf has won on soft, but we’ll have to see what the weather brings through the week. He ran in bottomless ground in the Arc last year and hated it, but if you get him on better ground he’s got a great turn of foot.

“Nashwa ran a huge race when third in the Irish Champion Stakes, where she was flying at the finish. She’s in great order, but a decision probably won’t be made about which race she runs in until later in the week, probably Wednesday as I don’t like leaving it until Thursday morning.”

The rapidly improving Royal Rhyme is ready to step up to Group 1 level after handicap and Listed wins that have brought an 18lb rise in rating.

Trainer Karl Burke said: “He is very ground dependent and wouldn’t want it any faster than good to soft. The ground is key to him and if it was heavy it would raise hopes even more. He has had his niggles, not being easy to train but is growing up and improving all the time.”

William Haggas has confirmed two horses with previous form in the race. He said: “Dubai Honour was second to Sealiway in the race two years ago and My Prospero third to Bay Bridge last year. I was pleased with their gallop at Newmarket on Friday.

“My Prospero will definitely be going to Ascot again, and we might put something on him there – maybe a tongue tie, maybe a pair of blinkers. He’s a really good horse, but we’ve found him quite frustrating. He’s not ungenuine, but we need to try something to find another half length or so.

“We’ll have to see how Dubai Honour comes out of his gallop. He needed that and there’s no time to give him another, so we are also looking at the Premio Roma, which is early next month. The timing is better there, but the Champion Stakes is the Champion Stakes.”