The Ascot crowd were left wanting more - including race 7?

Does Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot need a seventh race?

By Ben Linfoot

16:14 · TUE October 24, 2023

Our Ben Linfoot was at QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday and he left wondering whether the time has come for an addition to the race schedule.

Champions Day delivers – but could it be even better?

Champions Day at Ascot attracted 30,369 people through the gates on Saturday, an improvement of 6,587 on the previous year, the Frankie Dettori farewell trumping Baaeed’s final race despite the weather – in 2022 we had glorious autumn sunshine, something that only appeared for the most fleeting of moments this year before more showers fell on an already sodden track.

The rain mattered little to those in attendance, however, with Dettori’s magic on King Of Steel in the Champion Stakes, potentially his final ride on a British racecourse (I know, he’ll be back), ensuring a Champions Day ‘I was there’ moment to go alongside Frankel’s two victories at this meeting when the day was still in its infancy.

Frankel bows out at Ascot

Thirteen years on and Champions Day is winning. Four Group 1s and a Group 2 that should be a Group 1, along with a closing handicap, make up for a special day in British racing. Almost £4.2 million in prize money is there to be won and it includes the jewels in the crown; the QEII, the richest mile race in Europe, and the Champion Stakes, the most valuable 10-furlong contest on the continent.

The 35 and 40-minute gaps between races allows time to breathe and the structure of the programme, building the anticipation to the best races throughout the afternoon, a schedule borrowed from the Breeders’ Cup, sets this day apart from other British race days where the feature action usually takes place in the middle of the card.

In short, there’s loads to like and that’s before we’ve mentioned the venue, the most grandiose of all the racecourses in Britain. You can’t really argue that Champions Day racegoers don’t get bang for their buck, especially when there’s so much going on off the track, too, but I have to admit I did leave Ascot on Saturday wanting at least a little bit more.

Well, just one more race, to be precise. Seven, it seems, is the magic number, when you look at the Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National meeting, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, York’s Ebor Festival and all the big Saturdays, seven-race cards are the norm. Punters like them, the bookies certainly like them, and if Champions Day is to evolve a seventh race looks the natural next step.

A six-race card would be unheard of in the United States and while Champions Day just about gets away with it because of the sheer quality on show, you can’t rely on a Frankel or a Frankie every year. Stretching the entertainment to four hours, which the addition of an extra race would do, would go a long way to ensuring Champions Day maintains its position as an unmissable race day in the calendar.

It has established itself, there is no doubt, but perhaps now is the time for it to grow.

King Of Steel wins under Frankie Dettori

Option 1 – Juvenile Group 1, 5f

The preferable option would be another Group 1, obviously, in keeping with the Champions theme. With all divisions for older horses covered by the current schedule the glaring gap is a juvenile race and this is where the difficulties start to arise.

When Champions Day was formed the G1 Fillies’ Mile was moved from Ascot to Newmarket as part as the reshuffle that saw the Champion Stakes switched the other way, and with Future Champions Weekend an important meeting for the Rowley Mile course any additional juvenile race would have to fit in with that meeting and the pattern in general.

The Dewhurst and Fillies’ Mile are off limits, then, but the two-year-old sprinters aren’t catered for at the highest level – unless they are challenged to take on older horses in the Nunthorpe or the Prix de l’Abbaye – and with the trend for breeding precocious speed not showing any signs of waning perhaps a five-furlong Group 1 for two-year-olds would be well received?

There is a precedence for plucking a Group 1 out of nowhere thanks to the addition of the Commonwealth Cup in 2015, but if that’s off the table perhaps a move to reclaim the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes from Newmarket might be worthwhile.

Run at Ascot until 2014, it gets a bit lost amongst the elite races on Future Champions Weekend, but a significant prize money boost (it’s currently only worth £34,000 to the winner) and a move to Champions Day might give it a chance of developing into a top-level contest in the long-term.

Option 2 – Valuable Nursery, 6f

If a Group 1 for juveniles is deemed too difficult to pull off how about a massive pot for the two-year-old who can prevail in a big-field nursery handicap?

York’s Ebor Festival currently houses the two most valuable nurseries in Britain and Ireland, the Class 2 contests over six and seven furlongs won this season by Zoulu Chief and Gushing Gold, respectively, both coming in at £100,000 for the total prize fund.

There isn’t a two-year-old handicap worth more that these horses can go for after August, though, so a Champions Day scramble for a huge sum could work well for those 90+ rated juveniles who aren’t quite ready or good enough for the backend Group races amongst their age group.

Above anything else, it would be fun to see trainers try and lay one out for this with the less precocious types who might just appreciate the time and patience required to snare an end of season nursery in likely testing ground.

Option 3 – The Frankie Dettori Handicap, TBC

Well, he’s going to have a race named after him eventually isn’t he?

And if Champions Day does add a seventh string to its bow in the future then Mr Magnificent Seven himself would be a good fit for the race title, as well as it being a vehicle to remind future generations about his great achievements in the game – something Champions Day is very good at given all the historical info dotted about the course.

A round course handicap would offer up something different to the Balmoral, bringing in all options between a mile and two miles, offering an alternative puzzle to the straight course shootout that currently ends the card.

Frankie Dettori returns in triumph on Trawlerman

Champions Day, 2030?

12.55 – Qipco British Champions 2yo Sprint, G1
13.30 – Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, G1
14.05 – Qipco British Champions Sprint, G1
14.40 – Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares, G1
15.15 – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by Qipco) G1
15.50 – Qipco Champion Stakes, G1
16.30 – Balmoral Handicap (sponsored by Qipco)

https://www.timeform.com/horse-racing/shop/horses-to-follow?utm_source=SL&utm_medium=article&utm_id=HTFsl_hero&utm_content=in_article_hero

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