British Champions Day

This weekend's QIPCO Guineas Festival at Newmarket will mark a handful of milestones, not least being the return to its rightful place on the calendar after the pandemic-ravaged season of 2020. Additionally, this year marks a decade not only since Frankel (GB) scorched up the Rowley Mile to one of the most exciting Guineas wins that likely any of us can remember, but also since the Qatar-based, Al Thani family-owned private investment company QIPCO took up the title sponsorship of the Guineas Festival as well as the QIPCO British Champions...

   Still in its infancy but already firmly established as a staple of racing's culinary experience, Ascot's Qipco British Champions Day is back on Saturday with the first of possibly several editions set in the COVID-19 era. No crowds, none of the hoopla that characteristically greets the collection of luminaries in all categories, no atmosphere other than that created by the races themselves. Back in June, the Royal meeting was the first of the country's major festivals to take place in the current void and it came through thanks largely...

Godolphin's MG1SW Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) will not take part in British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday due to the projected soft ground. Favoured in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. in 2019, he ran last in very soft underfoot conditions. The QEII or the G1 Champion S. had been options for the English, German and UAE highweight. A winner of Group 1s in Australia, the UAE and Germany, Benbatl will now point to the Dubai World Cup Carnival. He won the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 in...

Golden Horde (Ire) (Lethal Force {Ire}) is out of contention for the Oct. 17 G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint S. after sustaining a setback, the Racing Post reported on Sunday. The AlMohamediya Racing colourbearer won the G1 Commonwealth Cup S. at Royal Ascot earlier this season, before running third in the July 11 G1 Darley July Cup S. and fifth in the Aug. 9 G1 LARC Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville. The 3-year-old colt reported home third in the G1 Betfair Sprint Cup S. at Haydock when last seen...

Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) will turn back to a mile and a quarter for the Oct. 17 G1 Qipco Champion S. after finishing third in Saturday's G1 Pertemps St Leger. "He's come home safe and sound," said trainer William Muir on Sunday. "I wondered whether the race might have taken a bit out of him, but he's eaten everything and he's in great shape." Pyledriver won the G2 King Edward VII S. and the G2 Great Voltigeur S. earlier in the season. "I don't want to be dogmatic and...