Aidan O’Brien and British Champions’ Day

Kyprios won the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup last year. Prominent from early, up on the outside of the leader The Euphrates before they had passed the winning post with a circuit to run, he moved on from his stable companion at the top of the home straight, and he set sail. Catch me if you can.

They couldn’t.

Sweet William emerged from the pack and he got to within a length, but he couldn't get any closer and, in the end, Aidan O’Brien’s horse surged on to win by more than two, with Trawlerman back in third. That was a fourth win in the race for the champion trainer since they moved it to Ascot and called it the Long Distance Cup. No trainer has won the race in its current guise more often.

No Kyprios this year, but still Aidan O’Brien fields two in the curtain-raiser, a Group 1 contest this year for the first time: Christophe Soumillon on Stay True (Ryan Moore still regrettably on the sidelines), Wayne Lordan on Saratoga. Saratoga has over 30lb to find with the favourite Trawlerman, so that looks unlikely. Stay True has 8lb to find, but he does get the age allowance, and you can argue the case.

The kernel of the case is that there could be more to come from the son of Galileo, a key member of the supersire’s final crop. He is really lightly raced, he didn’t race at two and he has run just four times this season thus far as a three-year-old. Off the track for over three months after he was just beaten by his stable companion Puppet Master in the Lingfield Derby Trial, he returned with a fine run in the Great Voltigeur, and he stepped forward from that last time when he finished third in the St Leger.

He didn’t race like he was crying out for a step up in trip in the St Leger, and his dam was all speed, she never went beyond six furlongs. But you never know with a son of Galileo, you don’t know how far is too far, and he could step forward again now on his first attempt at two miles in just his fifth ever race.

Mission Central and Kansas form a two-pronged Ballydoyle challenge in the new Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes. The latter came out on top when these two met in the Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster, but it may be that Mission Central will do better here.

Gelded after he was beaten on his racecourse debut at Dundalk in April, the son of No Nay Never put up a fairly awesome performances, literally, when he won his maiden at The Curragh in August, leading on the far side from early and just going further and further clear. He was eight lengths clear by the time he reached the winning line, from Chicago Pope, who finished off his race well on the near side, and who looked good himself in winning his own maiden at Naas on Sunday.

Mission Central followed up by winning the Group 3 Round Tower Stakes. He only got home by three parts of a length in the end from debutant The Publican’s Son, but he probably had more in hand than that. Again, he was in front from early, this time against The Curragh’s stands rail and into a headwind, and he put the race to bed before getting closed down close home.

You can probably mark up the performance at least a little. His finishing speed dipped under 100% of his overall speed, and the three horses who filled the places behind him were all held up early on.

You have to allow him his run in the Flying Childers last time, but you can. He was dropping down to five furlongs for the first time since his defeat on his racecourse debut and, out of a full-sister to Falmouth Stakes winner Prosperous Voyage, that probably wasn’t ideal. Also, he was racing away from the stands rail when he faded late on.

He should be happier back over six furlongs today, and he could put his Doncaster run behind him.

There is a dichotomous challenge too from Ballydoyle for the Fillies & Mares Stakes – Bedtime Story and Ballet Slippers – a race that Aidan O’Brien won in 2017 with Hydrangea and in 2018 with Magical.

Winner of the Chesham Stakes as a juvenile last year on her only run at Ascot to date, the one-mile-six-furlong trip of the Group 1 Prix de Royallieu last time at Longchamp may have been further than ideal for Bedtime Story. Second in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly in June, the Frankel filly should appreciate the drop back down to a mile and a half now, the distance over which she put up one of the best performances of her career to date when she finished third behind Aventure in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp last month.

The Lion In Winter could be the pick of the Ballydoyle triumvirate in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Two for two last season as a juvenile, it hasn’t happened for the Sea The Stars colt yet this season, but he went close in the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville in July, and he went even closer in the Prix du Moulin at Longhamp last month.

Prominent from early that day and a clear third as they turned for home, he closed on the leader Alcantor early in the home straight, and he was just run down by Sahlan and Rosallion close home. He finished just a neck behind Rosallion, and he is a much bigger price for the QE2 than Richard Hannon’s horse.

'The decider in the season’s crescendo'

Then and only then, we come to the Qipco Champion Stakes. What a race. It’s brilliant that they are all lining up, Ombudsman, Calandagan and Delacroix, in the race of the season, potentially a race for the ages. The fact that Economics is available at double-figure odds tells you all you need to know about the quality of the race.

There is the added intrigue too of the private duel between Ombudsman and Delacroix. One-each from the summer, Ombudsman equalising in the Juddmonte International after Delacroix had gone one up in the Eclipse.

There was all the talk of the re-match in the Irish Champion Stakes, the decider, racing’s very own Thrilla in Manila, and all the disappointment when it didn’t happen, when Ombudsman didn’t travel. And yet, here we are, the re-match at Ascot, the decider in the season’s crescendo. Perfectly set. All it’s missing is a name. (In fairness, not much rhymes with Ascot.)

Delacroix is doing the travelling again, but it is mildly surprising that he has been priced up as he has been priced up, third best of the three. He came from an improbable position to beat Ombudsman in the Eclipse and then, in the Juddmonte International, as has been widely documented, the main body of the field went slowly and then quickened. Ombudsman got first run and, when you concede first run to a top-class horse like Ombudsman, off a sedate pace and on fast ground and at a fast track, it’s very difficult to get that back.

According to RaceIQ, Ombudsman clocked 45.56secs for the last four furlongs of the race, Delacroix clocked 45.76. The Gosdens’ horse was 0.2secs faster. In the Eclipse, Ombudsman covered the final four furlongs in 48.66secs, while Delacroix covered the same ground in 48.18secs. Delacroix was almost a half a second faster. Different day, different race, different track, different pace. There’s hardly a kick of a ball between them.

It’s going to be fascinating, but Delacroix probably shouldn’t be as far behind Ombudsman in the market as he is.

It’s obviously a massive day for everybody, it’s a huge day for Aidan O’Brien as a standalone, and it’s an important day for him too in this drive to break his own world record of 28 Group/Grade 1 wins in a calendar year.

Precise’s victory in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket last weekend took his Group 1 tally for 2025 to 22. At this stage in 2017, the year in which he broke Bobby Frankel’s record, going into British Champions’ Day, he had 24. Hydrangea’s win in the Fillies’ & Mares’ Stakes in 2017 took his total to 25 and level with the record that Bobby Frankel had set in 2003. Saxon Warrior won the Racing Post Trophy the following week, and that was 26. Mendelssohn at Del Mar and Highland Reel at Sha Tin took the total to 28.

He could take another step towards that total at Ascot on Saturday.

www.donnmcclean.com

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