Ascot confirmed on Wednesday that it has scrapped a plan to switch the Qipco Champion Stakes, the Group One highlight of Champions Day on Saturday, to a new “inner” course because the going is expected to be too fast. But the uncertainties that come with the meeting’s slot in mid-October were also apparent as opposition developed to Limato, the favourite for the Champions Sprint, following confirmation by Henry Candy that he will make a “late decision” on whether the ground is too soft for his stable star.
Limato has already been a late absentee from both the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and Haydock Park’s Sprint Cup this year as a result of ease in the ground, but put up an outstanding performance to win the Prix de la Forêt on quick going at Chantilly on 2 October.
He had been expected to head straight to the Breeders’ Cup meeting in California in early November, when the going is all but certain to be fast, but came out of his race in France so well that the Group One event on Saturday emerged as another possible assignment. Limato was immediately installed as the ante‑post favourite, but both Quiet Reflection, who won at Haydock following Limato’s late withdrawal, and Shalaa, one of the top juveniles last season, attracted money on Wednesday with the forecast at Ascot still causing concern.
“I’ve seen the forecast has changed slightly,” Candy said on Wednesday, “and there are a few more showers around. It will be a late decision, though. He’ll be declared and we’ll be walking the track.”
Coral pushed Limato out from 2-1 to 11-4 on Wednesday, while Quiet Reflection is top-priced at 4-1 (from 9-2) and Shalaa is 13-2 (from 7-1).
Limato would enjoy the ground on Ascot’s inner course, which has not been watered over the summer and is good‑to‑firm and firm in places, but the option of using it for the Champion Stakes on Saturday has now been ruled out, until next year at least.
“The outer track at the moment is good, good-to-soft in places,” Chris Stickels, Ascot’s clerk of the course, said on Wednesday. “We may get between 2mm and 5mm [before the weekend] but that won’t affect that inner track too much.
“The weather forecast models have been changing a little bit daily, but there is more confidence in Saturday being a fairly dry day. If we get the top end of what we are forecast, there may be more good-to-soft, but the ground should be fairly similar to what it is now.”
James Doyle, who rode Noble Mission to an emotional victory for Jane Cecil in the Champion Stakes two seasons ago, was in good form at Bath on Wednesday, riding a double which included the 12-1 success of Twitch in the feature event, the Listed Beckford Fillies’ Stakes.
Doyle also picked up an interesting ride on Saturday’s Ascot card when he was booked to partner Litigant, last year’s Ebor Handicap winner, in the Champions Long Distance Cup. Litigant had been off the course for 16 months before his win at York last August and also took the November Handicap at Doncaster later in the season, but he will be making his seasonal debut in Saturday’s Group Two contest.
Gordon Elliott, who is seen as the main rival to Willie Mullins in the Irish trainer’s championship, dominated the first meeting of the new season at Punchestown on Wednesday, saddling four of the seven winners at combined odds of 454-1. He missed out in the feature event, however, as the veteran Hidden Cyclone made all the running to win the Coral Champions Club Rated Hurdle. The long-term target for Shark Hanlon’s 11-year-old is the Galway Hurdle next summer, in which he finished second in July.
