Alex Hammond reflects on the recent action from Chepstow and Newmarket before providing some Champions Day pointers ahead of Ascot.
How much did you enjoy the three-day meeting at Chepstow, and which was the one horse that really made you sit up and take note with the season ahead in mind?
It was wonderful to be back at Chepstow to welcome the start to the jumps season proper. Unfortunately, due to the climate we must deal with now the ground was on the quick side over fences, so the real winter horses stayed away. However, conditions on the hurdles course were easier because those races were run on the flat track, so form should be more dependable over the next few months.
With that in mind Masked Man may be one to put in your tracker after the Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies trained four-year-old won one division of Friday’s novices’ hurdle in good style on his rules debut. He should continue to progress.
Also, Paggane made a promising debut for new connections when runner-up at 50/1 in the Silver Trophy for trainer Faye Bramley. It may be that a switch back to chasing is on the cards in time as she was running over fences for Willie Mullins before changing hands for 100,000 guineas in June.
Is Dewhurst winner Gewan a serious Guineas contender after bouncing back in the Group 1 at Newmarket?
He most certainly is. He’s now as short as 10/1 with Sky Bet so I think everyone has caught up with what this colt can do. I was lucky enough to be at Newbury when he won on debut back in July and really liked what I saw that day. Did I back him for the 2000 Guineas then? Of course not. His only below par effort came at Doncaster in the Champagne Stakes on ground that may not have suited, and the winner Puerto Rico has since dotted up in the group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere at Longchamp on Arc day. The third at Doncaster, Cape Orator, has also won since when taking the valuable sales race at Longchamp on Arc weekend.
Gewan's trainer Andrew Balding is taking a familiar path with this grey son of Night Of Thunder by going to the same 7-furlongs Newbury Novice – Acomb Stakes at York - Champagne Stakes – Dewhurst as Chaldean. Chaldean had one more novice run that this lad as a two-year-old and then kicked off his classic season in the Greenham, where he unseated Frankie coming out the stalls, before winning the 2000 Guineas.
Where’s your money likely to be going in this Saturday’s star-studded QIPCO Champion Stakes?
This should be a sensational day of sport with the dry weather doing this fixture a favour for a change. At the time of writing on Thursday the going was described as good all round with fine and dry weather forecast between now and Saturday.
The market for the Champion Stakes is dominate by a trio of stars. The highest rated horse, Ombudsman, is 2/1 favourite with Sky Bet. Three-year-old Delacroix is 5/2 next best after his win in the Irish Champion Stakes and French star Calandagan is an 11/4 shot. Let’s not forget Economics who hasn’t been seen since this race last year when disappointing having burst a blood vessel, he’s trading at 10/1.
I think at this stage it has to be Calandagan for me. The King George hero represents a trainer in Francis-Henri Graffard that can do little wrong and Calandagan comes here fresher than most (not Economics obviously!). He’ll be dropping back to this mile and a quarter trip for the first time since finishing second to the now retired Anmaat in this race last year (on the inner track due to the testing ground) but I don’t see that as an issue and this race may play to his strengths.
Which other horses should be suited by the prospect of a good-ground Champions Day?
Hopefully, this ground will make it a more level playing field for the horses and a true championship fixture.
There are numerous horses that I’m excited to see but we’ll be here all day if I list them all. Rosallion is top of the list as it would be a travesty if he didn’t win a Group 1 for his connections this season. He doesn’t face an easy task in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes mind you against the likes of Field Of Gold but he’s tough and talented and can hopefully run well.
Estrange was denied the chance to run in the Arc due to a dirty scope but that may have been a blessing as she was given a horrible draw. She is a leading contender for the Fillies and Mares where she will face Kalpana, who did run in the Arc. Estrange was really putting it up to Minnie Hauk in the Yorkshire Oaks before going down by 3 ½ lengths and she has the class to take on the favourite here. The ground should be perfect.
I interviewed the owner of leading Champions Sprint contender Big Mojo on Sky Sports Racing this week and he’s feeling confident ahead of the race. If Lazzat is back to the form he showed to win the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot he’ll be a formidable opponent and with Montassib, and last year’s winner Kind Of Blue amongst the final declarations it promising to be a super sprinting spectacle.
I can’t wait to be at Ascot to cover all seven races for Sky Sports Racing for this day, which is up there as one of the most thrilling in the flat calendar.
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