Hughes reaps rewards after Champions Day glory

Richard Hughes celebrating victory on Olympic Glory at Ascot on British Champions Day. Image courtesy of Racingfotos.com.

QIPCO British Champions Day provided the perfect platform for Richard Hughes to seal the British Champions Series’s Top Jockey Championships, following Olympic Glory’s victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Hughes, who glided to victory on board the three-year-old at Ascot, ended the British Champions Series campaign with a total of 130 points.

The Richard Hannon-retained jockey has enjoyed multiple successes in the Series, including with QIPCO 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes winner Sky Lantern, but none more so than with Toronado.

After being beaten by his adversary Dawn Approach in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and then again by the tightest of margins in the St James’s Palace Stakes, victory on board Toronado in the QIPCO Sussex Stakes proved to be not only Hughes’s best win of the year – but also, in his own words, of his career.

Last year’s winner, Joseph O’Brien, managed to finish second – 25 points behind the leader.

Of his successes in the Series, O’Brien’s highlight will be riding Declaration of War to victory in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and at York in the Juddmonte International Stakes.

Ryan Moore, who rode Ruler of The World to success in the Investec Epsom Derby, finished third on a mark of 95.

The new season kicks off on 3 May, 2014, with the QIPCO 2000 Guineas.