13:20: Kyprios, Sweet William (each-way)
13:55: Beauvatier (each-way)
14:35: Quantanamera (each-way)
15:15: Charyn
15:55: Calandagan, Continuous (each-way)
16:35: State Actor (each-way)
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
ITV Racing Brings you every race from Champions Day at Ascot Saturday, starting here with the Group 2 Long Distance Cup over 2m. It is hardly imaginative, but I fully expect KYPRIOS to confirm himself as the best stayer in the land in a race where all the leading contenders love mud.
The Ascot Gold Cup hero has been brilliant this season, and while he was beaten last year by Trawlerman, I fully expect The Euphrates to be a pain for the Godolphin runner who likes to race up with the pace.
SWEET WILLIAM is a cracking each-way bet if you don’t want to back one so short, as I can’t see the Coops runner out of the first three. However, this should go to Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore.
Up in class here for the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes over 6f. There are a lot of mud lovers in here, including Kinross, who could easily win after his Foret second.
The one I like each-way never wins, but I’m sure he has the ability deep down to do so and that is the French raider BEAUVATIER, who goes for Yann Barberot and Alexis Pouchin. My selection was one place behind Kinross in the Foret and stayed on well that day.
He was also third behind Lazzat in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, where the likes of Mill Stream were beaten off. A strong gallop in the mud here should be just what the three-year-old needs and he might surprise a few. I’ll be backing him each-way in a wide-open race.
Now the Group 1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes over 1m4f. I like another raider here in QUANTANAMERA for Stephane Pasquier and Andreas Suborics. My selection looked good at Deauville last time when beating Arrest in the Grand Prix de Deauville and while the latter is soft, he travelled like a machine for much of the event.
I suspect My mud lover is improving all the time. She’s got a decent each-way chance at long odds. Kalapana is improving and is sure to run a huge one, while Content will be much better back at this trip. I have no idea why the latter did not run in the Arc.
The Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 1m. Prague might be up to this to pull off a huge fairytale win, but the chances are that CHARYN will confirm his status as the best older miler in Europe.
Roger Varian’s stable star was a little like Bluestocking last season in being a nearly horse but, this time, he has come good with wins including the Queen Anne and the Jacques le Marois. He was unlucky in defeat in the Lockinge and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp last time. He’s not unbeatable, but he’s very likely to win.
Another top-class contest in the Group 1 Champion Stakes over 1m2f. Economics is the great hope for the future, and I hope he wins, but I’m happy to side with French raider CALANDAGAN, who has the best form in the book.
The Francis-Henri Graffard raider will be tucked in on the rail and he was simply brilliant here in the King Edward VII when slamming a poor field by six lengths.
Then he went to York and, from miles off the gallop, charged home into a closing second behind the City of Troy. Back form suggests he loves the mud – he won the Group 3 Hocquart on heavy – and is officially the best horse in the race. Going to take some beating.
Of the outsiders, I will have something each-way on CONTINUOUS, who ran a shocker in the Arc the other day but is much better than that. The St Leger victory was a fine one.
Champions Day ends with the Balmoral Handicap over 1m. A low draw might be an advantage here – it was when this column banged in Volterra the other day in a similar event – and STATE ACTOR might be one to look at each-way for the Chris Hayes and Bill Farrell combination.
My section is up 4lb for a second at the Curragh to Wigmore Street in the Irish Cambridgeshire, which seems fair, and he’s proven on heavy ground across the Irish Sea. He should give us a good each-way spin in the conditions, and he’s lightly raced and still open to improvement.
So best of luck and pray for Yeeehaaas. You hear me Paddy?
13:20: Kyprios, Sweet William (each-way)
13:55: Beauvatier (each-way)
14:35: Quantanamera (each-way)
15:15: Charyn
15:55: Calandagan, Continuous (each-way)
16:35: State Actor (each-way)
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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