Champion stakes

Anmaat (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}) is said to be finished for the season following his victory in Saturday's G1 QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot, with Shadwell's racing manager Angus Gold hoping the six-year-old can continue to be a flagbearer for the operation in 2025. The Owen Burrows trainee was among the outsiders for Saturday's £1.3 million feature contest at odds of 40-1, having managed only fifth when sent off the 6-5 favourite for the G2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp two weeks earlier. In the event, however, Anmaat proved better than ever...

French jockey Marie Velon is counting down the days until her return to Ascot on Saturday when she reunites with her beloved Iresine (Fr) (Manduro {Ger}) in a red-hot edition of the G1 QIPCO Champion Stakes, with top-class three-year-olds Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) featuring among the likely opposition. Trained by Jean-Pierre Gauvin, Iresine provided his rider with a landmark success in October 2022 when winning the Prix Royal-Oak, the first Group 1 victory of Velon's career. The pair struck again last year in...

Following Monday's confirmation stage, 17 horses remain in contention for Saturday's G1 QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot, including the top-class three-year-olds Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Calandagan (Ire) in what has the makings of a blockbuster clash. Trained by William Haggas, Economics is unbeaten in four starts this season, culminating with a first Group 1 victory in last month's Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, while French challenger Calandagan confirmed himself a major force to be reckoned with when filling the runner-up spot behind the outstanding City Of Troy (Justify)...

Williams Haggas has issued a positive bulletin on star three-year-old Economics (GB) as he prepares for his showdown with French challenger Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) in Saturday's G1 Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot. Economics heads the ante-post betting for the £1.3 million feature contest at a general 5-4, having gained his fourth victory from as many starts this season when making the breakthrough at the top level in last month's Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was the last horse to complete the Leopardstown/Ascot double in 2019,...

If the first half of the Flat season is for graduation ceremonies, this is the bit where Masters and PhDs are handed out. To see Ryan Moore sit so beautifully on City Of Troy - and this year's best horse race round Southwell so fluidly - was to feel a surge of anticipation greater than before his seasonal reappearance for the 2,000 Guineas.  We all love spring and the history-laden game of labelling three-year-olds 'Classic' winners. But sorry, late summer and autumn is when we really get ready to rumble....

The GI Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 4 remains under consideration for Amo Racing's G1 QIPCO Champion S. winner  King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}). "He appears to have come out of the race physically in good shape, but he would have had a hard race yesterday and we can't ignore that. We just have to see how he is over the next week," said the colt's trainer Roger Varian.  "I know Kia is very keen on the Breeders' Cup anyway, in general, and if he could get a good...

William Haggas is looking to the future after Baaeed's shock swansong defeat in the Qipco Champion S. at Ascot on Saturday by revealing the six-time Group 1-winning superstar's younger brother is set to make his debut soon.  Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {GB}) lost his unbeaten record on his 11th and likely final start on Champions Day when finishing fourth, beaten a little under two lengths, behind Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}). That was despite being sent off as a prohibitively short-priced favourite at odds of 1-4. Haggas was...

Last year's Derby winner Adayar (Ire) (Frankel [GB}) is set to take on Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 QIPCO British Champion S. on Oct. 15. Godolphin confirmed the news on Twitter on Tuesday in a post that read, "Following discussions yesterday, it has been decided that Adayar will miss the [G1] Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and will head instead to the Champion S. at Ascot where conditions are likely to suit him better." Following his Classic triumph at Epsom last June for Charlie Appleby, Adayar...

If confirmation was needed that Ascot's QIPCO British Champions Day is what it says it is, a glance at the most recently-published Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings reveals all. Of the 11 Europeans occupying the top 20 in the list, five are in action on Saturday with four of the remaining either injured or retired at this point. Heading the A-list quintet at present are the inseparable G1 QIPCO Champion S.-bound Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}), with the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. favourite Palace...

York's G1 Juddmonte International S. didn't just provide the world's best 130-rated performance of 2020 for Ghaiyyath (Ire) but, with its stellar back-up cast of seven-time Group 1 winner Magical (Ire), the G1 St James's Palace S. winner Lord North (Ire) and 2000 Guineas hero Kameko, the race was also judged to be the Longines World's Best Horse Race last year on ratings. Along with announcing the World's Best Racehorse Rankings on Tuesday, Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) also published the list of top 100 Group...

King Of Change (GB), a Group 1 winner and Classic-placed son of Farhh (GB), will stand his first season at Derrinstown Stud in 2021 for €7,000. He was a model of consistency throughout his career and Stephen Collins, general manager of Derrinstown, tells TDN's Alayna Cullen more about him. AC: Stephen, King Of Change is an exciting addition to the Derrinstown Stud roster. How is it that he came to stand at Derrinstown? SC: We were approached by Ali Abdullah Saeed, King Of Change's owner, and he asked would it...

   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...