Champions Day Review

Hi all,

Inside today’s main you can read my review of Champions Day.

Champions Day does divide opinion. For many it doesn’t work due to the timing of the meeting and the likelihood of soft or worse ground. I get that point and it’s a cogent one. However, a day with great horses on show. A day with four Group 1’s and Group 2 which should be a Group 1 and one of the most competitive handicaps you’ll see all season. As a day it doesn’t get much better.

Storm Babet might have battered the north and east of the country, but it seemed to relent over Ascot. It was a mostly dry 24 hours prior to Champions Day.

Ascot drains quickly, albeit not so much at this time in the year, and as I’m sure you're aware I’m sceptical about official going descriptions. So, after much chat about it being a quagmire in the run-up to the fixture. My hunch was it would ride soft on the straight course and closer to good on the hurdles track. Saturday’s times suggest I wasn’t too far wrong in that assessment. Although I would add it was a loose on top on the inner track which doesn’t suit all horses. Given those underfoot conditions, it didn't surprise me that Mostahdaf was pulled out of the Champion Stakes.

If there was ever a day when leaving your bets as late as possible i.e., until you know how the track was riding, it was Saturday.

Champions Day Review

Long Distance Cup

Short priced favourite Kyprios was turned over by Trawlerman ridden by certain Frankie Dettori. Trawlerman was headed by Kyprios 2f out. Ryan Moore went a couple of lengths clear on the favourite between the final two furlongs. However, he didn’t pull clear and that allowed Trawlerman to rally and collar him close to home.

Did Ryan Moore go for home to early or is Kyprios a lazy horse who was idling once hitting the front?

Trueshan fresh from winning the Doncaster Cup & Prix Du Cadran didn’t look happy and fourth successive win in the race never looked likely.

Champion Sprint

This year's race was a Group 2 masquerading as Group 1 race. So maybe it wasn’t a total surprise that the race was won by horse Art Power who came into the race 0-14 in Group 1’s.

With Frankie winning the first race favourite Kinross was sent off even shorter than I expected.

Art Power broke quickly from stall one and said catch me if you can.  Kinross looked to becoming with a winning run and even headed the winner inside the final furlong but to the winners credit he rallied to deny Frankie a double.

It was a fantastic performance from the gallant grey to prevail over a strong stayer like Kinross.

Hard to believe that the third highest rated horse on official ratings was sent off 40/1. As you will have guessed I wasn’t on the winner.  However, just before the off I told my friend that I could see the race producing a boil over and so it did.

Another example of the of the ‘top three’ in action but this time in a non-handicap which I must confess I haven’t looked at before.

Fillies And Mares

Another shock result with Poptronic (22/1) making all to land the Group 1 Fillies & Mares.  It was a gutsy effort by the 4-year-old to hold off her closing rivals inside the final furlong.

My pick Bluestocking finished her race off well in the first time cheekpieces. However, the winning post was always coming too quickly for her although she did snatch second from favourite Jackie Oh close to home.  I never thought she was going to catch the leader though as she made her effort from to far back. If she had been closer to the leader when she made her effort, I think she gets up to win.

Take nothing away from Poptronic but it’s a much shorter run in on the hurdles track and that enabled the front runner to hold off her pursuers.

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

QE11 looked the race of the day once it was announced that Tahiyra would lineup against Paddington, Nashwa,and Big Rock.   It might not have turned out to be the race of the season, but the winner produced the performance of the season.

Paddington was sent off a very strong favourite for what looked a hot race. The only other horse who came in support in the pre-race betting was French challenger Big Rock.

Big Rock produced a devastating performance of brutal power from the front. The race was over at halfway as the 3-year-old had put all his rivals bar Tahiyra to the sword.

As you know I had fancied Big Rock on testing ground for this race for a long time. This what I wrote on Saturday.

“I have fancied French challenger Big Rock for this race since he finished runner-up to Arc winner Ace Impact in the French Derby. He should get the testing ground he needs but I’m hoping connections let him go from the front rather than change tactics and hold him up which has been suggested”.

The winners performance reminded me of Frankel’s 2,000 Guineas win. They just couldn’t live with him in the early stages of that race and non could go with Big Rock here.

Tahiyra was the only one who was able to keep tabs on the winner and travelled smoothly through the race. Two furlong out it looked like she may throw down a challenge to Big Rock. However, once asked for her effort there wasn’t much left in the tank, and she lost second to Facteur Cheval close to home.

A couple of notable disappointments

Paddington doesn’t look the same horse that was winning Group 1’s in the Summer and finished a well beaten. Going to the International Stakes at York after his win in the Sussex Stakes probably wasn’t a good idea in hindsight. Coming back from a break and his freshness didn't help on Saturday's ground.

Nashwa was another to disappoint and she never got competitive. A couple of tough races in the International Stakes & Irish Champion Stakes have probably taken the edge off her.

Champion Stakes

Mostahdaf was a late non-runner. That left Derby runner-up King Of Steel to be sent off the 3/1 favourite. After some shock results in the earlier races the market got it right.

However, King Of Steel’s win didn’t look that likely 4f out. The 3-year-old was still last and didn’t seem to be travelling that well either. I don’t think the sharper inner track really suits him. However, fortunately they had gone hard up front which suited the winner.

King Of Steel is a huge horse who take a bit of time to hit top gear but once he does, he keeps going.  It was a perfectly judged ride from Dettori. No disrespect to Kevin Stott but it needed a genius ride to win and King Of Steel got such a ride to get up and deny Via Sistina.

I wrote in Saturday’s race preview:

“There’s a Group 1 in the colt and it could come today.  If any jockey can get him to win its Frankie Dettori”. 

Hopefully connections won’t be tempted to take the winner to the Breeders Cup. He'll have had a hard race here and Santa Anita is a tight track with a short straight which won’t suit him. Keep him for next season where he will big force in Group 1's over 1m 2f/ 1m 4f.

Runner-up Via Sistina ran a cracker like the winner she came from the rear down the outside.  It looked like she would prevail 1f out, but jockey Osin Murphy lost his whip and that could have made the difference at the finish. Although it’s just as likely she was also beaten by a stronger stayer.

Balmoral Handicap

If you got out on the front on the straight course, you were hard to peg back on the day. As I thought most of the field went far side and that was the place to be. Joe Fanning bounced out The Gatekeeper from stall 4 and he made all for good success. Soft ground really suits the winner, and I must confess I should have made more attention to his ½ length 2^nd of 20 to Johan in Goodwood Golden Mile on soft ground proved the key bit of form.

I fancied Al Mubhir he can have his 9^th placed effort marked up as he had no chance from his draw in stall 23. He’s handicapped to win off his present mark that’s for sure.

Not for the first time in the races short history there was a marked draw bias in favour of those drawn low. The first five home were drawn 4,5,2,7 & 3. It’s the fifth time in the last ten years that the winner has been drawn in the first four stalls. That’s something to remember for next year unless Ascot does something that alter it.

Champions Day Verdict:

Balmoral Handicap aside, due to the draw bias I enjoyed this year’s Champions Day.

We had Frankie Dettori riding a double including a peach of a ride to win the Champion Stakes.  That race alone made Champions Day for me.

If Frankie had really been retiring from the saddle. What a way it would have been for him to bow out. His ride a winner on the track he so loves. Whatever happens across the Atlantic he won't sign out on a bigger moment.

Ok, we didn’t get the race we wanted in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. However, Big Rock produced a ‘wow’ performance from the front to win.

Apart from the Champion Stakes where they went off to fast it paid to be ridden with the pace on both tracks. Four of the six winners made all and Trawlerman sat just behind the leader in the Long Distance Cup.

I was disappointed with my reading of the handicap that concluded the card although if Al Mubhir had been drawn low, he would have gone close. That apart I was on Big Rock and King Of Steel which ensured a small profit on the day. It could have been even better if Bluestocking had been ridden closer to the pace in the Fillies & Mares. On a day when it was tough for punters, I was pleased to come out ahead.

I’m away for the rest of the week so my next column will be on Saturday.

Cheers

John