Ulysses, Barney Roy and Cracksman clash in QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot
Ulysses is one of several superstar names in what promises to be a scintillating QIPCO Champion Stakes, which is Europe’s most valuable mile and a quarter race and worth £1.3 million.
Sir Michael Stoute is among several top trainers yet to saddle a winner on QIPCO British Champions Day but Ulysses has served him admirably this summer – winning the Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International Stakes, plus being placed in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. With a rating of 127, he is officially the highest-rated horse among the five-day entries.
Stoute is also represented by the talented Poet’s Word, who was touched off by Decorated Knight in last month’s QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes.
Cracksman is seeking his first Group One victory, having already won twice in Group Two company – the Betway Great Voltigeur Stakes and Qatar Prix Niel – by an aggregate of almost ten lengths and is bidding to follow in the hoof prints of his sire, Frankel, who signed off his flawless 14-race career with victory in the QIPCO Champion Stakes in 2012.
Godolphin have enjoyed a fabulous year and Sheikh Mohammed’s operation are represented by the Richard Hannon-trained Barney Roy, who won the St James’s Palace Stakes and has also been placed in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International.
Aidan O’Brien accounts for eight of the horses, including Highland Reel, the Investec Coronation Cup and Prince of Wales’s winner, as well as Hydrangea and Rhododendron. His dual Guineas winner Churchill has the option of this race and the Queen Elizabeth II stakes.
Dual 1000 Guineas heroine Winter, who had several potential targets including the Champion Stakes, was a surprise absentee at the confirmation stage.
Gosden said of the Great Voltigeur and Prix Niel winner Cracksman: "He is still maturing and strengthening – he’s bigger and stronger than he’s ever been, 16 or 17 kilos more than when he ran at Epsom in April. There are a couple of factors I’ll watch – the draw is important, and so is the pace.
"We are coming back in distance and are taking on older horses, which is something he hasn’t done before. He’s been running with the three-year-olds only, in two Derbys, and the big Group 2s at York and Chantilly.
"He’s won over a mile and a quarter and is bred to be more of a miler. I think he’s got the pace for it.
"It’s a big challenge but Cracksman is well and it’s a long, quiet winter and he will be about the place walking and trotting. He’s very lively – plenty of playing and rearing up, which is one of his favourite tricks.
"It’s a fabulous race and it’s great to be in it. We are really looking forward to it."
O'Brien may not have Winter to call upon at all on Saturday but his eight Champion Stakes hopefuls include 2000 Guineas hero Churchill and the vastly experienced Highland Reel, who could be set for a drop back in distance before heading off to America to defend his Breeders' Cup Turf crown at Del Mar early next month.
Another vintage renewal of Europe’s richest mile contest is also on the cards, headed by the Europe’s leading miler, Ribchester.
The Richard Fahey-trained four-year-old beat all bar Minding in last year’s renewal and has continued to thrive this year, winning the Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes, Queen Anne Stakes and, on his latest start, the Qatar Prix du Moulin.
Among the 16 in the field are some of the key principals from the QIPCO 2000 Guineas – Churchill, and third-placed Al Wukair. Churchill, the champion two-year-old of last season, followed up his QIPCO 2000 Guineas win in the Irish equivalent, while Al Wukair struck at the highest level on his latest start when landing the Jacques Le Marois at Deauville.
Aidan O’Brien, has four entries to shuffle, including superstar filly Roly Poly who has already claimed three Group Ones this season. Here Comes When, who beat Ribchester by a neck in the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, and the fast improving Beat The Bank, five-length winner of the Group Two Shadwell Joel Stakes at Newmarket last month, are on course to represent Andrew Balding.
Fahey is sounding upbeat over Sky Bet's QEII favourite Ribchester, saying: "Everything has gone according to plan. He’s a very easy horse to train with no issues, touch wood. I’m able to get the work into him when I want and he’s a very willing horse who enjoys his work, which is a huge help.
"He tends to go on any ground. When he got beaten at Goodwood I’m not blaming the [heavy] ground, I’m blaming the conditions – it was blowing a gale and pouring down with the rain. It was a horrible day. If you’ve ever run yourself in rain and wind, it’s not comfortable and it just caught him out but he’s bounced back and won a Group 1 in France since so we are very happy and comfortable with him."
Journey heads the field of 15 for the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, for which Alyssa, trained by Ralph Beckett, has been supplemented.
The John Gosden-trained five-year-old was a four-length winner last year, having been edged out by Simple Verse 12 months earlier and is set for a third spin in the Group One mile and a half feature. However, since its inception in 2011, no horse has won back-to-back renewals of any race on Champions Day.
Obvious stumbling blocks are Coronet, her stablemate, who won the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, and French challenger Bateel, who beat Journey in the Qatar Prix Vermeille last time and has now won seven of her 12 races.
The other entries include five more Group One winners - Left Hand, Seventh Heaven, Smart Call, Hydrangea and Rhododendron.
Andrew Balding, trainer of Horseplay, fourth in the Investec Oaks and absent since filling the same position in the Prix de Malleret at Saint-Cloud on July 2 said: "She’s a high-class filly who probably wasn’t seen to best effect in France on her last start, when she came back with a problem. It’s taken a bit of time to get her right."
Gosden said of his pair: "Journey’s in great form – she ran a blinder in France when she ran into a filly [Bateel] who loved that [softish] ground more than she did. It will be her swansong, she goes to stud after this.
"Coronet ran an exceptionally good race in the Yorkshire Oaks to Enable and just found the pace and distance too far in the Leger but she’s a very good filly and she’s getting better all the time. She seems to be racing more alertly now than she used to so, fingers crossed, they will both run good races.
"Fillies in the autumn, if they are in the zone and well that’s great. Sometimes it’s a little late in the year but they are both giving us the right signals.
"I haven’t got as far as riding arrangements. I’ll talk to Mr Dettori, who likes to tell us what to do. If he gets it wrong then it’s his fault, not mine."
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