Ben Linfoot discusses the three best performances from Qatar Racing British Champions Day in his Ascot analysis.
1. Ombudsman after-burners light up Champions Day
Beforehand it looked like it might be messy. But Devil’s Advocate set an honest gallop, turning the screw in the middle of the race, and that set up the Qatar Racing Champion Stakes beautifully at Ascot on Saturday.
Indeed, two furlongs out it was perfectly poised. The admirable Bay City Roller, fresh from his Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe second, hit the front. Calandagan, running over 10 furlongs for the first time since he won this race last year, was finding his stride on the outside.
A finish for the ages looked in store, but then you looked at William Buick and Ombudsman. Sat between the aforementioned pair, the son of Night Of Thunder was tanking, absolutely tanking, still behind Bay City Roller but going oh so well.
And just like that, the race was over. Buick let him go and he cantered clear for a three-and-three-quarter length success from Calandagan, who had no answer to the turn of foot shown by the John & Thady Gosden-trained horse.
In a career with four or five stunning highlights, this is arguably the best of the lot and like Frankel, Almanzor, Cracksman, King Of Steel and Calandagan before him, his stunning Champion Stakes victory will live long in the memory.
2. Appleby works wonders getting in the mind of QEII hero Talk Of New York
There was no hiding place in a Queen Elizabeth II Stakes run at a decent clip, but even so, Talk Of New York’s new-found maturity helped him fulfil his considerable promise in the mile feature.
Charlie Appleby has worked wonders with this son of Wootton Bassett, who showed a fiery side as early as his second start way back in February in Meydan where he pulled his chance away.
Back in Britain the hood was applied and while the headgear helped him channel his energy in the right direction in victories at Newmarket and Sandown, he again ran way too free in the St James’s Palace Stakes and when beaten at 2/5 at Goodwood after that.
All the plaudits go to Appleby, then, for ironing that kink out. You can’t get away with racing freely on the Rowley Mile and he bolted up there after two months off in the Group 2 Joel Stakes, a performance that earnt him a supplementary ticket to Champions Day.
With all the money for Aidan O’Brien’s Gstaad, Talk Of New York was a tad uneasy in the betting, but he relaxed really well very early on in the race under William Buick as More Thunder’s pacemaker, Needle Match, set the gallop.
Talk Of New York sat five lengths off him surrounded by horses, getting the perfect run through, and as Buick edged him into space towards the far rail it was all over from two furlongs out as he galloped on for a comfortable success.
He wouldn’t have won this race the way he was pulling a couple of starts ago, so this will be a very satisfying win for Appleby who will have a serious older miler to go to war with next year now he is racing so efficiently.
3. Sprint division still wide open – but only because Almeraq is too valuable to race
We’ve waited a long time for a sprinter to come along and dominate over six furlongs in Britain and finally, in Almeraq, we have found one.
His story is fairly remarkable having clipped heels and fallen during his formative three-year-old campaign, the horrible incident at York ending jockey Jim Crowley’s career, and it is a serious achievement from William Haggas to get him back new and improved at four.
This season he has now won three Group 1s, this Champions Sprint success an addition to a set that already included the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes and Betfair Sprint Cup.
His latter win at Haydock was a serious performance in soft ground and they look his optimum conditions, but he’s versatile and his Champions Day win, under a cool as you like ride from Tom Marquand, highlighted his dominance in a different way.
Unfortunately, just as a dominant sprinter comes along, it looks as though he is quickly going to be whisked off to stud, leaving the division as wide open as it ever was heading into the next campaign.
You can understand Shadwell’s stance, his pedigree oozing class given he’s from the family of Fairyland and Dream Ahead, his dam an unraced daughter of Muhaarar - another Shadwell sprinter who dominated this division.
His sire Dark Angel has already produced a sprinting megastar for Shadwell in Battaash, but while he had to be gelded to show his best, Almeraq just needed Haggas’ magic touch and a bit of patience.
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