Holloway Boy and Sir Busker head weights for Ascot’s £200,000 Balmoral Handicap on QIPCO British Champions Day

Recent Haydock Group 3 winner Holloway Boy is an intended runner with joint top weight in the Balmoral Handicap at Ascot on October 19 confirms Karl Burke, who also outlined plans for his other main entries on QIPCO British Champions Day, which features four Group 1 races and offers record prize money of £200,000.

Burke could have three runners in the Balmoral, weights for which were released today, and while he laughed off the suggestion of pulling off another 1-2-3 finish like last Saturday’s Ayr Gold Cup he believes they are all capable of playing a part.

He said: “Going from a Group 3 back into handicap company isn’t an obvious route to take, but Holloway Boy’s owner Nick White has personal reasons for wanting to go there, as I believe it’s the anniversary of the passing of a very good friend or family member. He’s a strong possibility for the race, and then he’s pencilled in to go to Bahrain for their international race in November.

“Holloway Boy won the Chesham at Royal Ascot on his debut and he ran a blinding race over the course and distance in the Hunt Cup this year. While we’ve felt that in the past that giving weight away to up and coming horses has probably been his undoing, in a handicap of the quality of the Balmoral and with the smaller field you almost have to be badly handicapped to get in it.”

He added: “Liberty Lane, second at Doncaster last time, would be a possibility too if it came up very soft, but he’s running in the Cambridgeshire on Saturday first. Thunder Run, who won at York, is also a possibility. He’s in at Haydock on Saturday as I thought he might need a penalty to be sure of getting into the Balmoral, but I see now that he only needs five to come out so we’ll see.”

Burke won’t have a runner this time in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, in which his Poptronic beat Bluestocking a year ago, but he has entries in all of the afternoon’s other races.

He said: “All being well Royal Rhyme will go for the QIPCO Champion Stakes again, especially if the going is on the easy side, and our Celebration Mile winner Ice Max will take his chance in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes if it’s soft again, although I wish now I’d put him in the Champion Stakes too as I think he’ll improve for stepping up in trip.

“Fallen Angel is in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes as well. At the moment we are looking at the Prix de l’Opera for her on Arc weekend, but that could change. Swingalong and Elite Status are our likeliest runners in the Sprint, but Elite Status wouldn’t want it too soft.”

Silver Legend, who raced just once for William Haggas, is an intriguing entry from Scandinavia, where he is unbeaten in three races this year, last time posting a nine-and-a-half win over nine furlongs at Klampenborg.

His trainer Jessica Long, who was delighted to learn that the four-year-old is guaranteed a place, bought him for just 8,000 guineas at last year’s Horses In Training sale at Newmarket and said: “He had missed all of his three-year-old season with an injury but I have a great friend who used to work for William Haggas and knew of the horse, and he came very well recommended.

“I had an owner who was always looking for a good horse so I rang him to see if he was ready to take a chance on something that might be a bit special but is completely under the radar and he said ‘Go on, game on’.

“In his first two races he didn’t beat much and it was more the way that he did it, but last time out he was up against as good horses as we have here in Scandinavia and he impressed us a lot with the way he did it again, especially as we knew that we hadn’t pressed any buttons in training. King David, who we beat, is getting to be quite old now but in his heyday he was a Group 3 winner and he’s still a decent benchmark.

“We were stuck for finding another race for him in Scandinavia this year and when my husband found this race at Ascot I asked the owner if he was up for some madness! I still think we might have a couple of kilos in hand off a mark of 98.” 

David O’Meara has won the Balmoral Handicap on a record three occasions, and he is responsible for seven of the 74 entries. None is guaranteed a place in a maximum field of 20, but Rhoscolyn and Bopedro need only a handful of those above them in the weights to drop out in order to get a run.

The Ralph Beckett-trained ante-post favourite Qirat, on the other hand, is currently number 39 in the pecking order. He therefore needs 19 above him to come out, but that is by no means impossible. State Actor, Movie Maker, Amphius, Treasure Time and Volterra are among other leading fancies who will need plenty of defections.