Horse racing tips: Timeform highlights on British Champions Day at Ascot

Clear on ratings

SNOWFALL – 14:35 Ascot

With leading ante-post fancies Free Wind, La Petite Coco and Love all failing to appear amongst the final declarations, the Fillies and Mares Stakes is arguably the weakest – and almost certainly the least competitive – of the five pattern races on Champions Day.

Only three of the eight runners have shown better than useful form and, even then, Snowfall appears to be head and shoulders above the other two. Indeed, it’s telling that her main danger according to Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings is Albaflora, who Snowfall beat decisively by four lengths when bringing up her third Group 1 success of the campaign in the Yorkshire Oaks in August. Aidan O’Brien’s filly had previously recorded wide-margin wins in both the Oaks at Epsom (by 16 lengths) and the Irish Oaks at the Curragh (by eight and a half lengths).

It’s obviously worth pointing out that Snowfall has been below her best in two subsequent starts, not looking quite the same horse who had dominated the fillies’ scene for most of the year. She was turned over at odds of 5/1-on in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp in September and then finished only sixth, nearly five lengths behind Torquator Tasso, in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe over the same course and distance last time.

Snowfall is back against her own sex this time, though, and on paper the calibre of opposition appears nowhere near as hot as it was in the Arc. Provided a long season isn’t starting to catch up with her, this looks a good opportunity for her to resume winning ways for O’Brien, who won this race with Hydrangea in 2017 and Magical in 2018.

The big improver

SUNRAY MAJOR – 16:30 Ascot

The position of Champions Day in the calendar means that most horses who line up at Ascot are trying to cap what have already been productive seasons, rather than using it as platform to really announce their arrival on the big stage.

There are a couple of notable exceptions on Saturday, however, not least Sunray Major, who makes just his third start of the campaign in the Balmoral Handicap after a setback delayed his return until September. His belated reappearance in a novice event at Chelmsford proved well worth the wait, defying a penalty by four lengths in taking style, and the manner of his victory in a seven-furlong handicap at this course last time identified him as potentially a horse of the highest calibre.

That was Sunray Major’s handicap debut, starting at odds-on from a BHA mark of 95, and he duly looked miles ahead of his mark in making short work of an otherwise competitive field, just needing to be kept up to his task in the final furlong to win by two lengths with plenty in hand.

Beaten just once in four career starts, Sunray Major sneaks in at the bottom of the weights in the Balmoral under just a 6 lb penalty, so it goes without saying that he is potentially very well treated. Worryingly for his rivals, he leaves the impression he has an even bigger effort in the locker, too, so much so that he likely to be contesting pattern races before too long.

His pedigree is an ongoing recommendation – he is by Dubawi and a half-brother to Kingman – and we await with interest to find out just how high he can climb.

The Timeform Flag

Horse In Focus, Sectional, Horse For Course, Jockey Uplift

ROHAAN – 14:00 Ascot

Sprint races on the Flat are a game of fine margins – particularly over the minimum trip – and, having completely blown the start, Rohaan did remarkably well to be beaten less than two lengths into fifth in the Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh last time.

Soon detached from the main body of the field by several lengths, Rohaan was pushed along two furlongs out and still had only one behind him entering the final furlong. He made up several places from there, however, as those who had helped to force the strong gallop weakened quickly out of the frame. It wasn’t just a case of them tiring, either, as the clock shows that Rohaan recorded some notably fast closing sectionals to be nearest at the finish.

Rohaan will be suited by the return to six furlongs here at a venue where he has excelled in the past. Indeed, he has won both his previous starts over this course and distance, including when producing a career-best effort to defy a BHA mark of 112 in the Wokingham Stakes in June.

Though beaten in three subsequent starts at the top level, Rohaan’s performance in the Wokingham was undoubtedly that of a Group 1 sprinter and it’s not too late for him to make the breakthrough in such company on Saturday if building on the promise of his run at the Curragh.

It would be a remarkable story given where Rohaan came from – he registered his first win from a BHA mark of 55 at Kempton in December 2020 – and the booking of Ryan Moore (replacing Shane Kelly) will give him the best possible chance of making it happen.

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