An excellent Champions Day highlighted by two brilliant performances from Cracksman and Roaring Lion draws to a close. They were the equine stars and John Gosden had an outstanding day with three winners. Frankie Dettori continues his renaissance with two successes, including in the centrepiece race on Cracksman. The abiding memory will be Cracksman’s devastating display, the tinge of regret being that we never saw him in the Arc and that much-hoped for clash with stable companion Enable.
Balmoral Handicap (4.30pm) result
1 Sharja Bridge (James Doyle) 8-1
2 Escobar (A Kirby) 33-1
3 Mjjack (C Lee) 20-1
4 Another Batt (Cameron Noble) 66-1
20 ran
Balmoral Handicap (4.30pm)
And they’re off ... Via Via has the early lead with Safe Voyage also prominent ... the leader has gone well clear ... Humbert and Waarif are now close up ... Argentello coming with a run ... wide open before Sharja Bridge comes clear with a late run.
Updated
Balmoral Handicap (4.30pm) preview
A disappointing favourite at Haydock last month, Mitchum Swagger may have needed that first run for half a year and the drying ground was against him. A good third behind Addeybb in the Lincoln, he would at least go close here if able to reproduce that effort on just his third run since joining Ralph Beckett.
Balmoral Handicap (4.30pm) betting
6-1 Raising Sand, 7-1 Argentello, 9-1 Kynren, Via Via, 10-1 Safe Voyage, Sharja Bridge. 14-1 bar. Full betting here.
Champion Stakes (3.50pm) result
1 Cracksman (L Dettori) 5-6 Fav
2 Crystal Ocean (W Buick) 11-4
3 Subway Dancer (Radek Koplik) 66-1
8 ran
Updated
Champion Stakes (3.50pm)
And they’re off ... Maverick Wave and Capri lead with Cracksman who was urged into a prominent place just behind ... but drops into fourth and Frankie Dettori pushes him along ... No change in the order as they head for home ... Cracksman is asked to improve ... and he goes well clear with a brilliant display of foot. An easy winner!
Updated
Roaring Lion may go to the Breeders’ Cup:
Sheikh Fahad suggesting retirement most likely now for Roaring Lion, but if he does go to the Breeders' it sounds like a shot at the classic would be the target.
— David Johnson (@davidjohnsonTF) October 20, 2018
Updated
Lion roars in the QEII
Roaring Lion justified the decision to drop the colt back in trip by landing a gutsy success in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. A three-time Group One winner over 10 furlongs this season, the John Gosden-trained colt knuckled down to his task in admirable fashion to win in the colours of Qatar Racing, whose Sheikh Fahad sponsors British Champions Day with his brothers.
Hey Gaman and Laurens set a strong pace from the start, before Century Dream made his bid for glory. Oisin Murphy produced Roaring Lion to challenge in the centre of the course and the 2-1 favourite did not flinch as he hit the front in the final furlong.
I Can Fly finished strongly and was only a neck down at the line, while Century Dream was half-length away in third place. PA
Updated
Champion Stakes (3.50pm) preview
The soft ground should be no obstacle to Cracksman (3.50), who can shore up his reputation in the Champion Stakes. Some cutting things have been said about this four-year-old since his defeat at Royal Ascot, partly inspired by Gosden’s seeming reluctance to return him to the track. The fitting of blinkers does not exactly inspire confidence. But the fact remains that he has won two top-class races this year. True, 10 furlongs on fast ground exposed the limits of his speed when he was last seen; still, there was no disgrace in being bested by Poet’s Word, who won the King George next time, and the likelihood is that Cracksman remains a serious talent. He will be fresher here than Crystal Ocean and perhaps that may also help.
Updated
Champion Stakes (3.50pm) betting
Evens Cracksman, 11-4 Crystal Ocean, 11-2 Capri, 16-1 Monarchs Glen, 28-1 Verbal Dexterity, 50-1 Rhodedendron, 250-1 Subway Dancer, 300-1 Maverick Wave.
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.15pm) result
1 Roaring Lion (Oisin Murphy) 2-1 Fav
2 I Can Fly (D O’Brien) 33-1
3 Century Dream (W Buick) 25-1
13 ran
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.15pm)
And they’re off ... with Happily a non-runner after getting worked up in the stalls ... Roaring Lion is in midfield ... Hey Gaman leads ... with Laurens in second ... Century Dream challenges ... Recoletos and Roaring Lion make their move ... Roaring Lion and I Can Fly go past together ... with Roaring Lion just holding on and defying a string late run from the outsider I Can Fly.
Updated
Magical performance secures Fillies & Mares honours
Magical proved the pick of Aidan O’Brien’s six runners to win the Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot, as hot favourite Lah Ti Dar fell short in the Group One showpiece. Tenth when last seen in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe earlier this month, Magical was happier back against her own sex and comfortably landed the spoils.
The winner was brought with a strong run early in the straight by Ryan Moore to head the John Gosden-trained favourite Lah Ti Dar over a furlong out. The daughter of Galileo maintained the tempo to hold another Gosden runner, Coronet, by a length.
O’Brien said: “She ran a lovely race in the Arc, and we really fancied her for the Oaks last year – [but] she had a little setback and didn’t get to run. Wayne (Lordan) rode her in the Arc and he loved her. Wayne came in after the Arc and he was brilliant, he said there was no doubt this filly does get a mile and a half as that was her first time over a mile and a half and that is why we came back here.
“She was working lovely – and we’re really, really delighted. We were always going to take our time with her [in the race], and she had a lovely position and relaxed. So I couldn’t have been happier. That is her first Group One. We thought she might handle ease in the ground as she had form with ease in the ground as a two-year-old.”
Asked about a trip to the Breeders’ Cup, the Ballydoyle trainer said: “It’s possible. Obviously, the lads will decide what they want to do – like they always do. We see how they come out of races, then we suggest a plan we think might suit – then the lads will make the decision themselves. She is very valuable and as she had an injury we want to make sure she is OK if she was to go to America.” PA
Updated
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.15pm) preview
Once again, punters will be offered short odds about a John Gosden runner for whom soft ground is not ideal. Distance is also a factor for Roaring Lion, who steps down to a mile, having been beaten in his last three races at that distance. At least that means he will avoid the worst of the ground, on the round course, and perhaps he is classy enough to win anyway, but I would rather bet that one of his 14 rivals can mug him. Happily will do for me, having won back to back Group Ones on deep ground last autumn. She went down by just a head to Laurens a fortnight ago, when her rival had the rail to help her, and this softer ground may help her to an even better performance.
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.15pm) betting
5-2 Roaring Lion, 4-1 Recoletos, 7-1 Addeybb, 9-1 Happily, 10-1 Laurens, 11-1 Lord Glitters, 18-1 Lightning Spear, 22-1 Beat The Bank, 40-1 Century Dream, 50-1 Romanised, Stormy Antarctic, 66-1 I Can Fly, 80-1 Hey Gaman, 300-1 Gabrial.
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.40pm) result
1 Magical (R L Moore) 5-1
2 Coronet (O Peslier) 6-1
3 Lah Ti Dar (L Dettori) Evens Fav
11 ran
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.40pm)
And they’re off ... Lah Ti Dar is racing wide in the early stages and running keenly with Bye Bye Baby leading ... Flattering is last ... Kitesurf is in midfield ... God Given is second ... into the home straight and Lah Ti Dar comes to challenge ... Lah Ti Dar goes on but here comes Magical ... Magical leads with Coronet coming late but the leader holds on with Lah Ti Dar back in third.
Updated
Sands runs rivals into the ground
Sands Of Mali ran his rivals into the ground to spring a 28-1 surprise in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot. Richard Fahey’s three-year-old speedster had been disappointing since looking unlucky when beaten in the Commonwealth Cup, but bounced back in style.
Sands Of Mali got a great start, and his jockey Paul Hanagan was soon setting the pace he wanted. Harry Angel – who was rather reluctant to load at the start – came out of the pack to challenge, but Hanagan had left a bit in the tank and Sands Of Mali kept up the gallop to score by a length. Donjuan Triumphant was a length and a quarter away in third place.
Fahey said of the winner: “I’ve always felt he is a Group One horse - but as you can see a couple of his runs have been very disappointing, and we don’t know why. Today he got the soft lead he needed, and from half way I was happy.
“We just got nailed at the Royal meeting, and he has gone pear-shaped from there. At home he has always worked like a Group One horse, but he has now proven he is. He has had a couple of other goes and come up short, but today was great.
“I don’t whether he just hurt himself a bit running on the quick ground at the Royal meeting. I thought he ran okay at Haydock, but today was where we thought he should be. It’s a good result for a small trainer up the north!” Hanagan was emotional as he voiced his thanks to the trainer. “I enjoyed that one,” he said. “I can never describe it, to ride a winner like this for the boss. He’s been with me from day one. To repay him like this is very special … he’s always been there.” PA
Updated
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.40pm) preview
As with Stradivarius, there must be a concern about Lah Ti Dar’s ability to cope with this surface, which is radically different from anything she has so far encountered. That by itself would stop me from taking a short price about her, but there are also some interesting, improving sorts ranged against her. Kitesurf is just about the pick and, although she must also prove herself on soft, her odds offer more margin for error than the favourite’s. There was a lot to like about the way she ran down Magic Wand in France last month and her run style suggests the mud may help her by slowing up those ahead of her in the first mile. Aidan O’Brien fields six and his Broadway is priced up as a no-hoper but this half-sister to Danedream has been crying out for this distance and could run into a place.
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.40pm) betting
11-8 Lah Ti Dar, 6-1 Kitesurf, Magical, 15-2 Coronet, 12-1 Hydrangea, 16-1 Pilaster, 28-1 God Given, 33-1 Broadway, 66-1 Bye Bye Baby, 125-1 Flattering, 150-1 Sizzling.
Paul Hanagan has had his critics and the jockey clearly enjoyed that judging by his ‘schhhh’ gesture as he passed the post on Sands Of Mali in the Sprint:
Sands Of Mali has silenced plenty of punters (and maybe some of Paul Hanagan's critics) with his 28-1 victory in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes pic.twitter.com/pfLs6detSz
— Racing UK (@racing_uk) October 20, 2018
Updated
Champions Sprint Stakes (2pm) result
1 Sands Of Mali (P Hanagan) 28-1
2 Harry Angel (A Kirby) 4-1
3 Donjuan Triumphant (James Doyle) 16-1
14 ran
Champions Sprint Stakes (2pm)
And they’re off ... Harry Angel jumps out pretty well with Sands Of Mali the early leader ... Dream Of Dreams is prominent ... Harry Angel tries to challenge Sands Of Mali but the leader holds off the favourite to win ...
Updated
Frankie Dettori gets a three-day ban for his winning ride on Stradivarius:
R1 @Ascot #ChampionsDay : Report following an enquiry into interference between STRADIVARIUS (IRE) and THOMAS HOBSON ➡️ pic.twitter.com/z0I0qs8e8G
— BHA Stewards (@BHAStewards) October 20, 2018
ITV weren’t hard on Ryan Moore after the opener ... plenty are disagreeing. There’s been some disquiet this week about racing presenters and whether they are critical enough:
Stradivarius goes the distance
Stradivarius capped a magnificent season when coming out on top in a dramatic race for the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot. Winner of the newly-inaugurated Stayers’ Million after four victories throughout 2018, Stradivarius completed a five-timer to confirm his status as the undisputed staying king.
It was hard work, though, as he had to be brave to go through a gap for Frankie Dettori on the inside turning for home, which had been left by the pace-setting Flag Of Honour.
After seeing that horse off, Stradivarius appeared to leave Thomas Hobson a little short of room when Willie Mullins’ charge tried to sneak up the far rail in the final furlong. However, Stradivarius (even-money favourite) would not be denied and the John Gosden-trained four-year-old crossed the line a length and a half to the good from the Irish raider.
Dettori said: “I had half a chance and took it, but you can only do that when you have plenty of horse. He’s been a model of consistency and owns the crown of being champion stayer – you can’t take it away from him. He’s all heart, this horse.” PA
Updated
Champions Sprint (2pm) preview
It’s asking a lot for a horse to win both Haydock’s Sprint Cup in September and this race the following month, for all that they are very similar races. No horse has done the double since Ascot’s Champions Day was created, though placed horses from Haydock have won here. With that in mind, Brando must be of interest at roughly double the odds of The Tin Man, who beat him by half a length in the Haydock race. A Group One winner in France last year, Brando has had another fine year, having also been second in the July Cup. He is ridden for the first time in years by Jamie Spencer, poor Tom Eaves having broken a leg since his last race.
Champions Sprint Stakes (2pm) betting
7-2 The Tin Man, 11-2 Harry Angel, 8-1 Brando, Librisa Breeze, 17-2 Tasleet, 14-1 Limato, 20-1 Donjuan Triumphant, 20-1 Son Of Rest, 22-1 Projection, 28-1 Dream Of Dreams, Sir Dancealot, Speak In Colours, 33-1 Sands Of Mali, 40-1 Bacchus.
Long Distance Cup (1.25pm) result
1 Stradivarius (L Dettori) Evens Fav
2 Thomas Hobson (Oisin Murphy) 14-1
3 Sir Erec (D O’Brien) 5-1
6 ran
Non Runner: No2
Long Distance Cup (1.25pm)
And they’re off ... Flag Of Honour is going to make the running and the Irish St Leger winner leads past the post for the first time with the gambled-on Sir Erec in second ... Stradivarius is close up in third ... Desert Skyline is at the back of the half-dozen runners ... Well past halfway and Flag Of Honour still leads with no change in the order behind him ... Turning for home and Stradivarius is stuck on the inside ... He gets through and hits the front but Thomas Hobson challenges ... Stradivarius wins but did he impede Thomas Hobson in the closing stages? A look at the replay suggests the winner will be safe but Ryan Moore will be watching that back with mixed feelings after letting the favourite come through on his inside after the home bend.
Updated
Former jumps jockeys Mick Fitzgerald and Luke Harvey have just been interviewed by Oli Bell on the track for ITV Racing. Tony McCoy is one of the chief pundits for the channel today. It’s odd that jumps jockeys are happily used by broadcasters, including ITV, for Flat racing but not the other way round. Can you imagine Jason Weaver, Johnny Murtagh or George Baker, for example, rocking up at Cheltenham? No, neither can I.
Tomorrow's ITV team has five ex-jockeys on it. But only one of them rode on the Flat.
— Oliver Brett (@sport_oliver) October 19, 2018
Long Distance Cup (1.25pm) preview
As was noted this week by Timeform, it’s half a century since the Gold Cup winner completed a full season undefeated. Stradivarius could achieve that feat here, having won all four races since reappearing in the Yorkshire Cup in mid-May, but there must be some concern that the flashy chestnut does not really want such a testing surface. He coped fairly well to be third last year when he was getting the three-year-old allowance from the first two but was still a bit below his best and may be vulnerable again. Flag Of Honour’s best form has also been on a sounder surface, so perhaps Sir Erec is the way to go, for all that he seems Aidan O’Brien’s second string. A scopey type, he was really impressive in a Listed race on bad ground at Limerick last weekend, finishing powerfully after being trapped behind a wall of rivals.
Long Distance Cup (1.25pm) betting
Evens Stradivarius, 11-4 Flag Of Honour, 6-1 Sir Erec, 10-1 Thomas Hobson, 40-1 Desert Skyline, 50-1 Cypress Creek. Full betting moves here.
While you’re here it’s worth noting a new racing exhibition I can recommend at the the Osborne Studio Gallery in Belgravia, London, which will open next month to coincide with the build-up to the first major jumps meeting at Cheltenham. The artist is the excellent Hubert de Watrigant who uses a wide variety of materials including charcoal, pastel, watercolour and oils, and works on many different surfaces, sometimes including collage. You can find more information via the gallery’s website here.
The talk all week on the betting front has been about the chances of a four-timer on Champions Day for trainer John Gosden but the news is that the quartet are on the drift as bookmakers compete frantically for business.
The Champions Day banker accumulator for the ‘Fab Four’ as dubbed by the Racing Post is now a best price of 32-1 as bookmakers take on the Gosden favourites. Stradivarius is out to evens, Lah Ti Dar is now a best-priced 6-4, Roaring Lion has drifted to 5-2 fand Cracksman is evens from 5-6. (You can keep up with all the latest betting here).
A bookmakers.tv spokesperson said: “Bookmakers are holding their nerve this morning and by no means running scared of the Gosden bankers. Each of the big four have drifted from their early morning and midweek prices but should Stradivarius go in [in the first race at 1.25pm], expect the latter runners to collapse like a house of cards as momentum builds.
“Bookmakers have been quick to talk of a Doomsday scenario should all four favourites oblige, but the reality is that on a day of colossal turnover, if one or two results go their way it will be an extremely profitable afternoon thanks to the huge interest in the Champions Day concept.”
Last weekend our snapper Tom Jenkins went to Pardubice in the Czech Republic to document the 128th Velka Pardubicka Steeplechase, the ‘Czech Grand National’. The great race takes place on the world’s oldest and most difficult cross-country course and Jenkins captured all the thrills and, of course spills.
Updated
Non-runners
1.25pm Long Distance Cup: No 2 Mount Moria (Lame)
3.15pm Queen Elizabeth II Stakes: No 9 Aljazzi (Travel issue)
Going latest
Clerk of the Course Chris Stickels was anticipating a slight going change at Ascot today given the unseasonal conditions but none has been made so far. He said this morning: “The straight course is Soft, and the round course is Soft, Heavy in places.”
“The GoingStick readings are 6.4 in the straight and 5.5 on the round course [at 8am],” he added. “There was a bit of heavy dew this morning, but that hasn’t changed the ground. We had a dry night and there has been no rain since Wednesday, when we had three millimetres.
“We had 44mm of rain on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, which softened it all up. The forecast for today is for dry weather, with bright sunshine and temperatures up to 17 degrees Celsius.”
Guardian nap Sir Erec well backed
Aidan O’Brien, rather than John Gosden, holds the key to my Champions Day at Ascot. This has not always been the Irishman’s strongest fixture of the year but he had a couple of winners last year. He gets to approach today’s action almost as the underdog, because of the expectation being heaped on Gosden’s team, with the result that the Ballydoyle runners are backable prices and, in a few cases, clearly are being backed.
Sir Erec (1.25) is down to 13-2 for the opening Long Distance Cup, having been a general 10-1 after declarations were made for this weak-looking contest. Meanwhile, Aidan’s supposed first-string, Flag Of Honour, is an uneasy 11-4. Sir Erec is clearly a late bloomer, having earned his place here with a Listed win last weekend, and perhaps he won’t be able to show his best just seven days later. But the ground will be no problem and you can’t say that with the same confidence about the two ahead of him in the betting.
Happily (3.15) is the other notable Aidan shortener in the QEII, being a general 10-1 shot from the 14-1 and even 16s on offer early yesterday. As it happens, she has a lot in common with Persuasive, the Gosden-trained winner of this race last year; two females causing a bit of an upset at the end of a winless year, having shown high-class form on soft the previous year. Like Persuasive, Happily warmed up for this by running second in the Sun Chariot.
I’ve made Kitesurf (2.40) my pick in the Fillies & Mares race but I had a lingering look at Broadway and will have a few quid on each-way. She’s one of six that Aidan has in the race and was initially priced up at 100-1 because her claims were so much less obvious than those of her stablemates. But she ought to relish this step up in trip, as a Galileo half-sister to Danedream, appears progressive, won on heavy last time and has James Doyle up. The Racing Post’s Spotlight has been braver than me and actually tipped her outright, which is one reason she has now shortened to a general 40-1.
The card tapers off after the QEII, for me. I think Cracksman will probably win a Champion Stakes that lacks depth but odds of 10-11 don’t leave much room for error. I will watch the handicap without an involvement, though Mitchum Swagger isn’t a bad price at 12-1. Tips for all today’s races are here. Good luck to you all and here’s hoping the ground throws up results that are just strange enough for our liking.
Preamble
A dry day is forecast at Ascot for Champions Day this afternoon and there are no non-runners as yet in any of the six races. Well, among the horses, at any rate. Andrea Atzeni, however, will be absent despite being declared for three rides on Thursday, having been suddenly scratched from proceedings on Friday evening as the result of what the British Horseracing Authority described as a “procedural error”.
The news that Atzeni would miss the meeting, where his scheduled rides included this year’s Sussex Stakes winner, Lightning Spear, in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, came as a complete surprise to the jockey, the trainers he was due to ride for and also his many fans. Having picked up a two-day ban for a riding offence at Longchamp two weeks ago, he had been assured that by the British Horseracing Authority that its usual rules, which allow jockeys to defer one day of a two-day ban if it will allow them to ride in a Group One, would apply in his case.
It transpires, however, that the French rules are different, and allow only one deferral per year. Atzeni cashed in his get-out-of-jail-free card earlier in the season and must therefore sit out the richest card of the British season.
The BHA apologised “to Andrea, connections of the horses in question and anyone else affected by this” on Friday evening, having been made aware of the issue only when its France-Galop, its counterpart in France, got in touch to inquire why their ban was not being reciprocated.
It is the French rules which are forcing the rider to miss a multi-million pound card for a very minor offence, but there is still no obvious excuse for passing on duff information to Atzeni and the connections of the horses he was due to ride. There was still a gap against Lightning Spear’s name until 9.25am, when Mickael Barzalona was confirmed as the new jockey on a horse with a very live chance
It was not an auspicious start to one of the most significant weekends of the racing year, but the weather, on the other hand, is playing the game, with no rain forecast for Ascot and a bright afternoon in prospect for a crowd of around 30,000 paying punters. Their lightness of their mood at the other end of the day is likely to depend on the fortunes of John Gosden’s four favourites on the card: Cracksman, Roaring Lion, Lah Ti Dar and Stradivarius.
At the best prices available, the combined price for all four to oblige was around 26-1 on Friday evening, and the odds suggest that Roaring Lion, a 9-4 chance for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, could be the weakest link. Should the first three runners in the four-timer go in, however, the frantic bulletins from the bookies’ PRs predicting the imminent collapse of Britain’s gambling industry will be a joy to receive.
The action gets under way at 1.25pm BST with the Long Distance Cup, and the going remains soft, heavy in places on the round course, and soft on the straight mile, which stages the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, the Champions Sprint and the concluding Balmoral Handicap.
Updated
