Qipco Champions Day - Was it a Success

Bar the Bull

Bar the Bull

At the Start
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Leaving aside the whip issue.

Should this experiment be persisted with? Would you scrap it, tinker it or what?

For
The races had depth and breadth of quality. I particularly liked the way that the Pride Stakes has been beefed up and moved to this course.
The sprint race (used to be the Diadem) is also a very good idea at this time of the year, as there is nothing in Europe at 6f after the Sprint Cup.
The stayers' race clashes somewhat with the race on Arc day, and this year it seemed to devalue that race.
The Champion Stakes had a brilliant field. It didn't seem to detract from the QE2. It was a race sorely in need of a lift, and this seems to have done it.
The QE2 attracted the best horse in the world.

Against
Is Ascot the best track for races like this? I always get concerned when Group 1 races are on unfair tracks.
The pattern has been messed with. In some ways this has been good, but it has really screwed around in other ways.
There won't be a Frankel every year; will the QE2 just replace the Champion Stakes as the declining end-of-year G1 in Britain?
Why no 2yo race? I think they could lose the 7f handicap and have the Dewhurst and Fillies' Mile.

All in all, I think it has been a success.
 
Why is Ascot an unfair track?

There's no 2yo race because the deal to move the day to Ascot was that Newmarket would keep their biggest 2yo races and add Ascot's (Royal Lodge & Fillies' Mile).
 
I think Ascot used to be an unfair track and certain horses do seem to have a total aversion to it (Makfi, Workforce, Twice Over) but it's better than it was when it was first laid.

I like keeping the two year old races separate but I'd run them on the same weekend and make a Champions Weekend.
 
Gamla Stan said:
I think Ascot used to be an unfair track and certain horses do seem to have a total aversion to it (Makfi, Workforce, Twice Over) but it's better than it was when it was first laid.

I like keeping the two year old races separate but I'd run them on the same weekend and make a Champions Weekend.
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That would be good - like Newmarket 2yo raceday on the Saturday, and Champions Day Sunday?
 
Yep but the weekend's proximity to both the Arc and the Breeders Cup puts me off. Plus it's the RP Trophy next weekend as well.
 
Gamla Stan said:
I think Ascot used to be an unfair track and certain horses do seem to have a total aversion to it (Makfi, Workforce, Twice Over) but it's better than it was when it was first laid.
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I think Ascot was quickly labelled as an unfair track after a couple of high profile horses ran poorly there. Only now, as the evidence has grown, is it becoming clear that there's no real case that it's any more unfair than any other track.

In Makfi's case, he was reported to have come back coughing and with an inflamed throat after his first run there, and was retired less than two weeks after his second run with a dose of ringworm. Drawing conclusions about what he liked or didn't like from his grand total of 6 races is basically guessing - you could just as easily say that he didn't like running around a bend.

In two successive Prince of Wales's Stakes, Twice Over was beaten a length and half a length. As good a horse as he is, I don't think he does that if he's hating the course.
 
The Sheikh aims to get 70,000 people there in future, and wants it to mirror a day at Cheltenham in that respect. Very, very ambitious and I can't see how they're going to achieve that.
 
Champions Day aims to boost races to Group 1



Racing Post

PLANS are afoot to upgrade the prizes for next year's Qipco British Champions Day with the inaugural meeting still fresh in the memory.

Saturday's six-race card at Ascot, featuring the Group 1 QEII and Champion Stakes, also boasted two Group 2 contests, a Group 3 and an apprentice handicap.

An application will be made to the European Pattern Committee next month to upgrade the Fillies' And Mares' Stakes, won by Dancing Rain, to a Group 1 from a Group 2.

The winner of the 1m4f race has surpassed the required average rating of 110 for the past three years (it was previously run as the Pride Stakes at Newmarket), and it now meets the criteria to be considered for raising to a Group 1. An application to make the Sprint a Group 1 from a Group 2 is also likely.

British Champions Series chief executive Rod Street said on Sunday: "Yesterday exceeded our wildest expectations for the inaugural Qipco British Champions Day with such high class fields, absolute top-class winners and a record autumn Flat crowd for the modern era.
"There is a great deal for us to review over the coming weeks, but one obvious thing we would like to improve is the official status of the two Group 2 races and one Group 3 on the card.
"Clearly we would like to have five Group 1s and after yesterday I don't think anyone could say that the day does not merit that."

Street conceded that with the Group 1 Prix Royal Oak at Longchamp next weekend, making the Group 3 Long Distance Cup a higher class race would prove trickier, but is hopeful of making it a Group 2 in the future.
"Having had what are arguably the top two stayers in the world finish first and second yesterday, the same one-two from the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, we will have comfortably achieved the requisite rating for the race this year," he added.
 
I thought it was a success. The QEII and Champion Stakes were the best renewals since I got into racing (2003). The Pride stakes, as Bully points out, was a top quality race and might as well have been a group 1. In terms of the field and prize money it certainly looked and felt like one.

Not sure about upgrading the sprint just yet but it was a good race nonetheless.

I disagree that they need a Frankel each year. If they maintain the prize money, the QEII will become recognised as the European Mile end of season decider and will attract the best milers from both generations. There isn't an alternative outside of the Breeders cup and why would you travel halfway round the world when there is an equally good alternative on your doorstep?

They are never going to satisfy everyone but isn't it almost ironic that during the worst financial crisis in years, when our sport is ailing, the Brits can still moan about someone (Not from our shores) chucking a huge amount of money at building up the British racing industry?! Not everyone is moaning about that, more the way in which they have gone about it, but in truth, we should be bloody grateful.
 
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It was a great day's racing but largely due to Frankel and throwing cash at the races rather than being at Ascot etc .

They were immensely fortunate with the weather and the ground - a wet soggy Ascot Champions Day would be another thing altogether .

I disliked :

1 The race names - why could we not have kept the Jockey Club Cup , the Pride and the Diadem - why did they have to be given such naff dreary names

2 The Champion Stakes on that course - the draw makes it difficult and Ascot's short straight with big fields is a recipe for hard luck stories .

3 The apprentice handicap

4 The absurd behaviour of Chaparse .

5 The lack of 2 yo races and the total feck up of the end of year pattern

I liked

1 Frankel

2 The quality of the fillies race

3 The quality of the Champion but I reckon with that cash injection it would have had the same field at Newmarket
 
Why the fuss about the Pride Stakes name? It's only had that for 3 years. the race has no tradition as that, in fact the corresponding event has a greater history at Ascot as the Princess Royal. If it should have been named after a filly, wasn't Alborada more deserving than Pride anyway?
 
In 1990 I went to see the festival of British racing at Ascot.The day was memorable for Frankie riding his first Group 1 winner and also being the last time I drank Southern Comfort.
This was marketed as a massive meeting that would rival the Arc -where did it all go wrong Frankies magnificent 7 gave it publicity that money couldn't buy but it just faded away-they definitely got greedy making it a 3 day fixture.
As for additional races maybe they should make Doncaster an offer they can't refuse for the Futurity.
 
davidjohnson said:
Why the fuss about the Pride Stakes name? It's only had that for 3 years. the race has no tradition as that, in fact the corresponding event has a greater history at Ascot as the Princess Royal. If it should have been named after a filly, wasn't Alborada more deserving than Pride anyway?
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I am not at all bothered by the Pride name - but the Diadem and the Jockey Club Cup have much more history .

Sod Alborada - they should name the race after a truly great filly or mare like Petite Etoile or Park Top
 
I was there on Saturday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The facilities, weather and racing were all top drawer.

Flew in and out of Luton in the same day without any pressure (rented car for the day is the way to go if a designated driver can be sourced).

My only complaint would the lack of a 2yo race; whatever about the need to placate Newmarket for the loss of the Champion, they can't seriously contemplate the whole Champions Day idea without a juvenile race to my mind.
 
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I think it was not a success

2 good races and a fine undercard,
the sprint was a bad race, the stayers little interest and the mares either.


The Queen elizabeth was in itself a very good race , and 2 top class horses and a superhorse made the race a huge edition.


The champion a very good race but not ideal the race so close to the Arc


it would be great if the Arc were run a week earlier and the Breeders cup a week later.


the lack of 2 yo races is a disappointment and a good handicap also would help the card.
 
some fine fillies and not a bad race
but a top mares race without Danedream, sarafina, blue bunting, galikova, golden lilac,Midday, Snow Fairy, shareta.......
even Sara Lynx posted better form in Canada
 
sunybay said:
it would be great if the Arc were run a week earlier and the Breeders cup a week later.


the lack of 2 yo races is a disappointment and a good handicap also would help the card.
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Maybe we could have Champions Day a week later and basically just tell the Breeders Cup to do one.

Why not turn the Sprint into a handicap and give it Group status.
 
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