The latest odds, date, start time and betting tips for British Champions Day at Ascot.
QIPCO British Champions Day 2023 marks the end to the Flat Season. As deduced from the name it is where “Champions” are crowned, including the Champion Trainer, the Champion Jockey and the Champion of each racing division.
Inaugurated in 2011, the series comprises the best 35 Flat races within five Championship Divisions; Sprint, Mile, Middle Distance, Long Distance and Fillies and Mares.
With the series seeing head to heads and rematches at Royal Ascot, Epsom, Glorious Goodwood and Newmarket, to name a few, Champions Day represents the culmination of season long struggles for Champion status wrapped up into the nation’s richest day of racing with over £4 million on offer.
John Gosden is primed to win his fifth Champion Trainer’s award and his first under his shared licensing with son Thady, while William Buick is ready to win his first ever Champion Jockey award. Significantly, Champions day also marks the retirement plans of Frankie Dettori in England and Ireland, at least, as he plans to move his riding stateside.
British Champions Day Date and Start Time
British Champions Day at Ascot 2023 will take place on Saturday 21st October, starting with the Champions Long Distance Cup at 1.25 and finishing with the Balmoral Handicap at 4.25.
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British Champions Day Betting Odds
Pre-race favourite Horizon Dore (best price 5/2) is the most backed selection for the Champion Stakes through oddschecker since the start of October, taking more than 25% of the ante-post bets. Mostahdaf (pictured below) is the second most popular featuring in 18% of the betslips.
British Champions Day Tips
Starting off with the Long Distance Cup, last year’s Royal Ascot Gold Cup winner, Kyprios, is favourite and is bidding to build on his reappearance 2nd in the Irish St Leger after being absent for most of the season with a joint infection.
Second favourite Trueshan, who’s been crowned Long Distance Champion for the last three years, has overcome a poor start to the season to win the Doncaster Cup and the Group 1 Prix Du Cadran, whereas Coltrane - only beaten a head by Trueshan in this race last year - will be looking to exact revenge this year but will be disappointed by the forecast rain. Frankie Dettori will be riding Ascot Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami.
Last year’s winner Kinross heads the market for Ralph Beckett and Frankie Dettori in the Champions Sprint Stakes and the forecast rain will only be music to his ears.
Second favourite, Shaquille, who pulled off the Commonwealth Cup and the July Cup double, the latter where he had Kinross in behind, will look to bounce back from a catastrophic showing in the Haydock Sprint Cup where he finished last of 16.
Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes
Frankie will most likely sit on another favourite in the next race as Free Wind (3/1 best price) heads an open market in the Fillies and Mares stakes. The daughter of Galileo has endured a mixed season and deep ground would be a concern.
Conversely, Via Sistina has had an excellent campaign for George Boughey, winning the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes after a mid-season break, followed up by a 3rd in the Group 1 Falmouth over an inadequate 1 mile before going down by a nose in the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville.
This will be her first time tackling 12 furlongs but she looks to hold every chance of getting the trip. Meanwhile, Roger Charlton, who is set to give up his joint partnership with his son Harry at the end of the season, has said it would be a “fairytale” if Time Lock could give them Champion Day success.
Paddington, who cemented himself as the best miler of his Classic generation with wins in the Irish 2000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace stakes where he beat English 2000 Guineas winner Chaldean, looks to cement his claim as the best miler around of any age.
Although winning the open-aged Sussex Stakes, the race looked weak enough and he was subsequently tried for the Juddmonte International at York after winning the Eclipse.
However, with a heavy schedule of racing and the quickest ground he’s encountered, he was beaten at odds on into 3rd. He returns to a mile here in soft ground and looks to have favourites claim. He will face a field including Chaldean (16/1 outsider pictured below), 1000 Guineas 2nd Tahiyra and the filly Nashwa who finished in front of him that day at York.
Hukum has been ruled out of the Champions Stakes and it’s feared that Mostahdaf will follow with connections apprehensive about the forecast rain.
Last year’s winner Bay Bridge bids to defend his crown after a relatively underwhelming season having been beaten four times when contesting Group 1’s. However, he’s had viable excuses a few of those times with quick ground and when contesting the wrong trip in bid for Arc glory.
The forecast rain will suit as will the drop back down to 10 furlongs, so it would be foolish to rule him out. King Edward VII winner King of Steel had that form boosted when Continuous won the St Ledger and also finished ahead of Bay Bridge in the Arc.
He seemingly didn’t stay in the King George VI behind Hukum and the conditions of a strongly run 10 furlongs with soft ground and Ascot’s incline finish should suit well.
The Balmoral Handicap can be somewhat of a graveyard for Punters with only one favourite collecting in the last 10 years including 80/1 shot Shelir last year. Punters should wait for the draw over the straight mile in a race which will see 20 runners spread across the track.
Ante Post Look
It’s almost impossible to have a bet in a Sprint race without the draw but quotes of 20/1 for Rohaan seem excessive. He was 4th in this last year and yet was drawn on the wrong side; the first three home were drawn 17, 14, 13 and Rohaan was drawn in Stall 6 on the far side.
Indeed, the next three home behind Rohaan all had a double figure draw. It is only until you get to Art Power in 8th where single figure draws start appearing. He was 1st in his group on the far side and in additional the ground was only good to soft.
He won the Wokingham off 112 on soft ground and won the Group 2 Sandy Lane on heavy, so arguably the more rain the better. He bounced back to form last time when returned to this Course and Distance and he can run a big race.
