Big names stand their ground for QIPCO British Champions Day

QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday 18^th October remains on course to showcase the very best equine talent from across Europe as the latest acceptance stage saw Trawlerman, Field Of Gold, Ombudsman, Delacroix, Calandagan and Anmaat stand their ground.

The £1.3m QIPCO Champion Stakes is shaping up to be a truly mouthwatering clash with last year’s winner Anmaat bidding to become the first horse since Cracksman to win back-to-back renewals of the race. He will face a fierce challenge, though, with Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and Juddmonte International winner Ombudsman and Coral-Eclipse victor Delacroix also in contention for the £1.3m contest. Their own rivalry adds another possible dimension to this race with the series currently standing at 1-1 between them. Add in this year’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner, Calandagan, and this looks like being one of the races of the season not only in Great Britain but worldwide. Further intrigue is added with last year’s beaten second-favourite Economics and two-time Group 1 winner Goliath remaining amongst the 25 acceptors.

Field Of Gold is still on course to re-appear in the £1.1m Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO) and heads 27 horses going forward. The Juddmonte-owned colt was hugely impressive when winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St. James’s Palace Stakes – he will bid to add a third Group 1 victory to his CV having been given a break following a below-par effort in the Sussex Stakes. Docklands delivered the performance of his career when taking the Queen Anne Stakes in the opening race at Royal Ascot and will look to continue his impressive Ascot record with three wins and three seconds in seven starts. Rosallion has finished runner-up in three Group 1 races over a mile this term including the aforementioned Queen Anne Stakes, whilst Facteur Cheval has finished second in this race for the last two years for French trainer Jerome Reynier. Delacroix retains the option of dropping back in trip to a mile having raced exclusively over further this season.

The £500,000 QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes sees 30 go forward as the most open division in British racing looks to crown a champion. Last year’s winner Kind Of Blue is one of three potential runners for Wathnan Racing who will also look to run Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes hero Lazzat and Flora Of Bermuda, third in this contest last year and placed in multiple top-level races this term. Big Mojo retains an entry in this race having won the Sprint Cup at Haydock last time out as well as the Commonwealth Cup Trial over course and distance. No Half Measures completes the set of British Group 1 winners remaining in the contest after her shock success in the July Cup at Newmarket.

There are plenty of intriguing names still left in the £500,000 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes with more likely to be revealed after this weekend’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. 24 fillies and mares remain in at this stage, including last year’s winner Kalpana although she is set to run at Longchamp alongside Estrange and Minnie Hauk later in the week. Aidan O’Brien has seven other potential entries in the race including Ribblesdale Stakes winner Garden Of Eden and Bedtime Story, third in the Prix Vermeille earlier in the month. Owen Burrows’ Waardah has improved with every start this season, most recently beating fellow Fillies & Mares Stakes entry Danielle in the Group 2 Lillie Langtry Stakes at Goodwood.

Trawlerman has proved better than ever this year and will look to assert his dominance over the staying division in the £500,000 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup, which sees 16 go forward. John & Thady Gosden’s Godolphin-owned seven-year-old broke the track record when winning the Gold Cup at the Royal Meeting and will look to win this race for the second time having done so in 2023. The Classic generation could be represented by Scandinavia who has won the Goodwood Cup and the St Leger this term. Aidan O’Brien could also run Gold Cup runner-up Illinois and Jan Brueghel, most recently fourth in the King George. Francis Graffard, meanwhile, has left Sibayan in the race – the four-year-old would be stepping up to two miles for the first time but proved his class when winning the Group 1 Preis von Europa on Sunday.

The QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup race will be run as a Group 1 for the first time this year, meaning QIPCO British Champions Day features five Group 1 races, more than any other raceday in Britain. QIPCO British Champions Day takes place on Saturday 18th October at Ascot Racecourse. It’s the nation’s richest raceday and the grand finale of the British Flat racing season.

For the first time this year the £250,000 British Champions Day Two-Year Old Stakes will open the card, a six-furlong conditions race for juveniles run without penalties and worth £250,000. Entries for that race will be made at the usual six-day stage on Monday 13^th October. The card is concluded by the £200,000 Balmoral Handicap (Sponsored by QIPCO).

Tickets are on sale now – find out more about QIPCO British Champions Day here.