
CHANTILLY’S loss could be Ascot’s gain. The absence of Almanzor from this Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has robbed the great old race of some of its lustre. The Irish Champion Stakes winner, who so impressively gobbled up the Leopardstown ground in the final furlong, instead heads a star-studded cast of 28 that remain in the QIPCO Champion Stakes on British Champions Day on October 15.
The first four home in last year’s renewal, Fascinating Rock, Found, Jack Hobbs and Racing History, could meet again, while the first two in this year’s Investec Derby, Harzand and US Army Ranger, plus Minding, the QIPCO 1000 Guineas and Investec Oaks winner, are other possibles. Found and Harzand both contest the Arc so would be unlikely to run at Ascot.
My Dream Boat and Hawkbill, winners of races that form part of the 35-race QIPCO British Champions Series, are others in the mix.
Meanwhile, Lightning Spear is on course to spearhead a strong team of challengers in the £1.1 million Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. The five-year-old carries the familiar maroon and gold silks of Qatar Racing.
Lightning Spear was a fine third to Tepin in the Queen Anne Stakes on his last visit to the Berkshire course and on his latest start he was a fluent winner of the Group 2 Doom Bar Celebration Mile at Goodwood.
A total of 19 remain engaged in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes after Tuesday’s forfeit stage, including Belardo, winner of the Al Shaqab Lockinge earlier in the year, as well as Galileo Gold and Ribchester, who have already met three times this season.
Similarly, the 24 who remain in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint provide an exciting prospect. Mecca’s Angel, the dual Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes heroine, and Quiet Reflection, winner of the Commonwealth Cup and 32Red Sprint Cup, remain on course for a potential clash with the likes of Limato, Twilight Son, Shalaa, Lumiere and Signs Of Blessing.
Dual Group 1 winner Twilight Son, who finished runner-up to Muhaarar in last year’s running, will be having his final race before standing as a stallion at Cheveley Park next year.
The QIPCO British Champions Series is designed to throw the spotlight on Britain’s best Flat races and will climax on 15 October 2016 with the richest fixture in British racing history, QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot.
The Series features 35 Flat races staged at ten of the UK’s leading racecourses: Ascot, Doncaster, Epsom Downs, Goodwood, Haydock Park, Newbury, Newmarket’s July Course, Newmarket’s Rowley Mile, Sandown Park and York.
QIPCO British Champions Day is the richest Flat raceday in the British calendar with £4.2m in prize money on offer and boasts a card comprising four Group 1s, a Group 2 and the richest mile handicap in Europe.
Meanwhile attention is also beginning to turn to the National Hunt season and it’s always fascinating to look at the ante-post markets for the Cheltenham Festival. Coneygree is an eye-catching 14/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup although he will have to prove his fitness and wellbeing after injury and Douvan is another early contender for Cheltenham in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. In fact he could turn out to be one of the best jumps horses of all time. He is massive in size and scope and I’m surprised that he is available at even money for the Queen Mother.