Champions Day: Ben Linfoot looks at the key talking points ahead of QIPCO Champions Day at Ascot

Does Cracksman have the speed to win the Champion Stakes?

It’s six years since Frankel lit up the inaugural British Champions Day with a blockbuster four-length QEII success over Excelebration, a horse that came back the following year and won the same race by three.

Frankel, of course, rounded his career off at this meeting in 2012, winning the Champion Stakes, his 14th win from 14 starts, despite racing on really testing ground for the first time against a real mud lover in Cirrus Des Aigles.

Then, two years later, his brother Noble Mission kept up family tradition by winning the Champion Stakes himself, by a gutsy neck from Al Kazeem.

And now a son of Frankel will bid for the Champion Stakes for the first time. His best son to date, Cracksman, who has improved with racing throughout this year’s campaign.

The problem is, all of that improvement has been over 1m4f. And all the talk is that he won’t have the speed for 10 furlongs. Particularly 10 furlongs on ground that isn’t likely to represent a quagmire.

It’s difficult to disagree with that viewpoint. It’s clear from his races in the Derby at Epsom, the Irish Derby at the Curragh and even in the Great Voltigeur at York, that he doesn’t have a high cruising speed.

He has to be cajoled and it takes him time to find his stride. There was enough evidence of that in the Prix Niel as well.

All of those races were over a mile and a half and you wouldn’t watch any of them and think dropping back to 10 furlongs would see him in a better light.

You could argue that distance is relative to the opposition. You could argue that he might get away with it. It doesn’t look a vintage Champion Stakes by any means and that’s why he’s the 11/4 favourite at Sky Bet. Because he’s the improving colt in a race where his market rivals have recently blotted their copybooks.

Barney Roy was beaten in the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International. His conqueror, Ulysses, was beaten in the Arc. So was Brametot. Highland Reel is unlikely to get his ground. Winter and Decorated Knight miss the race for the Breeders’ Cup.

But I’m not sure I buy into that theory. Cracksman just looks too slow. There will be some very good 10-furlong horses in opposition on Saturday. And very good could be enough to beat this son of Frankel at the distance.

Ribchester: Banker or blowout in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes?

This is a tricky one. He’s classy and consistent, winning three Group Ones this season and he has a viable excuse in the awful conditions when turned over in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

His Prix du Moulin form at Chantilly last time has been boosted by the runner-up Taareef (beat Saturday’s challenger, Al Wukair, easily in July), who won the Group Two Prix Daniel Wildenstein on Arc weekend, and he loves Ascot.

Second in this race last year to brilliant filly Minding, Ribchester has won his two other starts on the straight course, both at Royal Ascot, last year’s Jersey Stakes and this season’s Queen Anne.

But he was workmanlike last time and there is a feeling that he might be vulnerable to a rapid improver like Beat The Bank if he’s not quite at the top of his game.

Freshened up since Chantilly, though, I’m inclined to think Richard Fahey will have him primed and ready for the task of winning a fifth Group One.

That experience could be crucial. Even if Churchill turns up, Ribchester looks tough to beat. All in all, he’s a very solid option and a very fair price at around 2/1 as well, considering his exploits this season.

Is testing Ascot too big a hill for Harry Angel?

Now, this is a question. Harry Angel has had a sensational year and he peaked last time in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, drawing clear by four lengths in tremendous style.

But, there is a but with him and it concerns the track, Ascot, where he’s 0 from 3 in his career.

There is no doubt he’s run really well at Ascot on each occasion. He was just touched off by a nose on debut, he gave 4lb to Blue Point when beaten by him in the Pavilion Stakes on May 3 and then things didn’t go his way when Caravaggio swooped to deny him in the Commonwealth Cup.

Adam Kirby was adamant he should’ve won that day at Royal Ascot and he has been brilliant on him since. The way he’s managed to cope with Harry Angel’s enthusiastic way of racing in both the July Cup and the Sprint Cup on his last two starts has been exceptional.

They were on speed-friendly tracks, though, even if Haydock was ‘heavy’ last time. Testing Ascot is a different mission. He’s 5/4 to get the job done, but that course record offers food for thought as he bids to cement his position as champion sprinter.

Can Champions Day king Dermot Weld strike again with Eziyra?

Dermot Weld has an incredible record on QIPCO British Champions Day. There have only been 36 races run at the fledgling concept so far and Weld has won four of them; the Long Distance Cup, twice, thanks to Rite Of Passage (2012) and Forgotten Rules (2014), the Fillies & Mares thanks to Sapphire in 2012, and then Fascinating Rock in the Champion Stakes two years ago.

So when he turns up at the weekend with just one horse, Eziyra, in the Fillies & Mares, it’s probably best to sit up and take notice.

The Teofilo filly has only had eight runs in her life, four of them over seven furlongs and a mile as a juvenile and four of them this season over a mile and a half.

She has improved since the application of a hood and has won her last two starts, both Group Three contests, at Cork in soft ground in August and then at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend on good-to-yielding conditions.

The bit of rain forecast later in the week should be ideal and, while she’ll have to improve again to trouble Prix Vermeille one-two Bateel and Journey, you couldn't rule out such a thing given her profile and the man that’s prepared her for the task ahead.

Will Arc exploits take the shine off Order Of St George?

Last year Order Of St George was sent off the 4/6 favourite for the Qipco Long Distance Cup yet he could only finish fourth under Ryan Moore. He got warm beforehand and the moderate gallop worked against him, factors that saw him race below peak form.

But was another factor his run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe just 13 days previously? He ran a huge race to be third over a distance that is on the short side for him and it could be argued that effort left its mark on him at Ascot.

If it did, Aidan O’Brien has not been afraid to go the same route this campaign. Buoyed by one of the best, if not the best, efforts of his career in the Irish St Leger on September 10, Order Of St George ran in the Arc again at Chantilly on October 1, this time finishing just out of the places in fourth.

The good thing for Order Of St George backers is that there’s an extra week between the Arc and Ascot this time around. A 20-day break should be sufficient for him to recover from his trip to France and, if that rain comes later in the week, conditions could well swing away from his main rival Big Orange and more towards in his favour as well.

It’s a pity for his trainer that it’s ‘only’ a Group Two...

Aidan O’Brien. Will he break the record on Champions Day?

If Johannes Vermeers wins the Caulfield Cup in the early hours of Saturday morning he’ll have a great chance. He’s 24 down, one to go to equal Bobby Frankel’s world record for Group/Grade One winners in a calendar year and two to go for the record outright.

And, Winter aside, he’s throwing everything at Champions Day judging by the five-day entries.

He’s got eight in the Champion Stakes, including Highland Reel, Churchill, Cliffs Of Moher, Hydrangea and Rhododendron.

Churchill is also among four possibles, which include Roly Poly, for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Hydrangea and Rhododendron are also doubly entered in the Fillies & Mares, a race that he also has Seventh Heaven pencilled in for.

Then there’s five from Ballydoyle in a belting Champion Sprint, with Caravaggio headlining that particular quintet.

However, it’s unlikely O’Brien will have the favourite for any of the quartet of Group Ones on Saturday. Godolphin have two hotpots in Ribchester and Harry Angel, Ulysses (or Cracksman if he doesn’t turn up) looks the likely jolly for the Champion Stakes and Vermeille one-two Bateel and Journey should dispute favouritism in the Fillies & Mares.

If he’s going to do it he might have to do it the hard way. Ascot, and particularly ITV, will be hoping that is the case. If horse racing did script writers, breaking the record in the Champion Stakes, denying a son of Frankel and Frankie Dettori in the process, would be the ideal scenario.

Can any of last year’s Champions Day winners follow up this year?

There are three in action; Sheikhzayedroad in the Long Distance Cup, Journey in the Fillies & Mares and The Tin Man in the Champion Sprint.

Sheikhzayedroad seems the least likely to follow up as he simply hasn’t quite been in the same form this year as he was last, but the other two have strong claims.

Journey was second in the 2015 Fillies & Mares before winning it last year, in great style, by four lengths, from Speedy Boarding.

Last year she went into the race relatively fresh after just three previous starts that season and it’s the same this time around, her best effort of the campaign coming last time behind Bateel at Chantilly.

Meanwhile, The Tin Man loves Ascot as he showed again when winning the Diamond Jubilee at the Royal meeting.

While he has to reverse Haydock Sprint Cup form with Harry Angel this track could level things up a bit and trainer James Fanshawe is going for his third win in the race as The Tin Man’s half-brother, Deacon Blues, won the 2011 renewal on the first ever Champions Day.

Which horses are on the radar in the Balmoral Handicap?

Loads at this stage, inevitably.

Lord Glitters looks a likely type after his excellent run in the Challenge Cup last Saturday week. He’s officially 4lb well-in, looks likely to improve on his second start for David O’Meara and for stepping back up in trip for a mile.

I thought he was a certainty to go off favourite after his Ascot run but Zabeel Prince’s York victory on Friday means that’s unlikely now. Roger Varian’s Lope De Vega gelding looks worthy of a significant step up in grade but looks likely to take the Balmoral in en route under a 6lb penalty.

He’s obviously got a massive chance, but at a much bigger price Richard Fahey’s Gabrial is worth considering at 33/1.

The Dark Angel gelding has run in the QEII and the Champion Stakes the last two Champions Days, but he’ll be taking the handicap option this time around now his mark has dropped to its lowest number since he won the 2015 Lincoln.

He ran in this year’s Lincoln off a mark of 108 and ran a cracker in a close-up fourth, but he’s 3lb lower now and his only subsequent run in a handicap, at Chester last time, can be forgiven after he missed the break.

What’s the ground likely to be?

It’s ‘Good’ ground at the time of writing with showers forecast on Wednesday, Thursday and perhaps Saturday morning, if you trust the outlook that far in advance.

Whatever happens in terms of precipitation this week it’s just great that we’re unlikely to be talking about potentially very soft conditions on Saturday.

The early chat that threatened to blight Champions Day was the timing of the meeting in the racing calendar and the running of some top-class races in October mud.

Yet even when that has been the case, like in 2014, we’ve been treated to some enthralling action. Noble Mission edging out Al Kazeem that year was a memorable renewal of the Champion Stakes.

But, even so, better ground, generally, means better racing. And this year’s Champions Day looks all set to deliver in spectacular fashion.

Related horse racing links

• Sky Bet's Champions Day odds
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• Harry Angel in flying form
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