Has there ever been a better champion stakes day? **** me the quality of the line up of horses and races is unreal In the first race you've got Forgotten Rules vs Order of St George vs Simple Verse vs our boy LITIGANT just to name a few Then in the sprint you've got Limato vs Twilight Son vs Mecca's Angel vs Quiet Reflection once again just to name a few Followed by a tricky puzzle fillies and mares race with some crackers Then the QE II with Galileo Gold vs Awtad vs Ribchester and now.... vs MINDING! Followed by the champion stakes Almanzor vs Found vs Hawkbill vs Jack Hobbs vs last years winner Fascinating Rock vs our boy MY DREAM BOAT and the grey gatsby. And then to close proceedings a nice little tough handicap featuring the likes of Bronze Angel, Chill The Kite, GM Hopkins and Master the world. Never known a card like it on the flat to have so many top class horses like i know it's champion stakes but the last few years have been pretty dead. This is unreal So glad i'm going!!! And i've got so stuck into the double of Litigant and My Dream Boat @ 300/1 too
Yep Chelsea, the greatest, Saturday card in the history of racing. We'll probably never see the likes of it again.
Maybe not the best flat card in history in hindsight as it goes, but definitely the best champion stakes card
Gutted as I have been every year since Frankels champion stakes win and I can't go this year!! I see Librisa Breeze is being stepped up to G1 must be working well at home but surely he will struggle against the likes of Limato, Shaala (definately will if he gets another ride like last time ) he deserves his chance and good luck to connections
What was, in your opinion, Nass? My small library really wouldn't help me much to put forward anything. In the past, there have been some fantastic top races, at Ascot in particular, but no way could I vouch for the supporting events.
If it’s supposedly ‘the showpiece of British Racing’ you’d think they’d come up with some half decent race titles instead of ‘The Long Distance Cup’ for the 16 Furlong heat, ‘The Champions Sprint’ for the 6 Furlong contest and ‘The Fillies and Mares Stakes’ for the old girls. Awful, dull and tedious. Ascot Executive hang your heads in shame. Meanwhile, why name the ‘lucky last’ after the Scottish Estate that the Saxe-Coburgs like to go to and massacre the local wildlife?!? An opportunity for originality, spontaneity and creativity has been overruled by blandness, I'm afraid, people.
2011 - lets face it if rather watch Frankel versus CDA than any of the races due this weekend. The card this year might be deeper but it's hardly Arc day still
Limato will miss the sprint as the ground is too soft for him. It looks likely to be the most open race on the card.
One good race where you knew who would win for a fact doesn't really come close to this Saturday Naas, need to give a bit better choice than that mate
Still think my fav Frankel one was Frankel v Canford Cliffs @ Goodwood Anyway it's all opinions anyway and i can see why you'd opt for that, it just Depends what way you look at it, for me i'd rather have 4 top races with 3-5 real good horses in each race with 2 other decent races than one main race that isn't very open, there was always only one winner when good ol Frankel was in town
Mr O’Brien has runners in 4 races. He’s going to be disappointed, I would have thought, if he doesn’t triumph in at least 3 of them. The biggest price on any of his 4 favourites, right now, is just 11/4. Not really sure why the ‘Immoral Handicap’ is last on the card. Would have thought it would have been the perfect alternative, half-way through the meet, to all the Group heats. Meanwhile, have you seen the number of animals in the Group heats currently available at 25/1 and bigger?!? By my reckoning its 44% of the total number of runners. That hardly indicates competitive heats now does it troops?!?
Timeform features Champions Day main races. NB Not ratings. But usually these will be dished out on ATR (Ch 415) when pre-viewing the meeting
Decent racing, no superstars. Its 14s bar 3 in the Champion, 10s bar 3 in The QEII and the only reason Order of St George isnt 4/9 is because the race is an afterthought. Minding was shown to be nothing special in the Irish Champion and Ribchester, Awtaad and Galileo Gold have been beating each other all season from a poor crop of 3yo milers, thats why Minding is fav now. The sprint is decent enough for our standards even with Limato out. Its good racing, solid, but far from spectacular, is there one match up there that anyone really wants to see? Would it be too good to be true for any of these to be running against each other? I dont think so. Frankel vs Black Caviar it is not. Havent seen anyone rhapsodize a card like this since Beefy on some duff jump meeting at some gaff last season.
California Chrome vs Arrogate in the BC Classic is a race im looking forward to. Lord Nelson vs AP Indian in the sprint should be good as well.
The Longines rankings through Oct. 9: Rank, Horse, Rating, Trained 1. California Chrome, 133, USA 2. A Shin Hikari, 129, Japan 2. Arrogate, 129, USA 4. Almanzor, 127, France 4. Winx, 127 Australia 6. Frosted, 126, USA 7. Maurice, 124, Japan 7. Postponed, 124, Great Britain 7. Werther, 124, Hong Kong
I think it could be the best flat card ever! Impossible to decide that though! But one superstar match up race vs 5 hugely competitive group 1s(one grp2) is no comparison if you are going there. I can't wait, each race is unbelievably intriguing. Whats the litigant tip? Not run since November? My big tip of the meeting is Signs Of Blessing 16/1 EW in the sprint, which I think is really open. I also think Galileo Gold will bounce back to beat Ribchester and Minding.
This depends on your definition of “quality” and “top class horses” and what you mean by ‘better’. Whilst there have to be ‘champions’, whatever wins each race on Saturday is unlikely to produce a rating that would elevate it into the top ten performers at that distance in the last twenty years. The card certainly looks competitive but this year’s ‘stars’ are unlikely to linger in the memory in a few years time. Because the French got in there first, Champions’ Day is always going to play second fiddle to Arc Sunday and they cannot move because of the Irish. The soft ground nullified any chance Limato had and Mecca's Angel is a five furlong horse so the sprint is actually Shalaa against Twilight Son and Quiet Reflection. Ribchester has improved rapidly since his Jersey Stakes victory at Royal Ascot and would have won the Sussex Stakes if not given too much to do but Minding should give him a race. There are too many imponderables in the Champion Stakes but it should (hopefully) produce a fascinating contest. It looks like Hawkbill is a no-show and The Grey Gatsby has no chance on form or easy ground. Will it be too soon for Found?
