Superstars To The Fore For QIPCO British Champions Day

News | 15^th October 2020

Magical, Stradivarius and Palace Pier are among the headline acts ready to light up the 10^thrunning of QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday.

The trio feature among 22 Group 1 winners who will be in action with five Classic winners joining them.

The thrills are going to come thick and fast at Britain’s most valuable raceday, with outstanding five-year-old mare Magical, trained by Aidan O’Brien, having the opportunity to go one better than Frankel and Cracksman by becoming the first horse to win at the meeting three times. On what seems likely to be her final race in Europe, she will defend her crown in a scintillating QIPCO Champion Stakes!

Magical Hoping To Cast Another Spell

Magical by name, magical by nature. The Aidan O’Brien-trained mare has already accumulated seven Group 1 victories and will become the first horse to achieve three wins on QIPCO British Champions Day if she can beat her ten rivals and retain her QIPCO Champion Stakes crown.

Magical won the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes in 2018 and returned last year to beat Addeybb, who reopposes, by three-quarters of a length in the QIPCO Champion Stakes. The ultra conistent mare has had another wonderful season to date, lowering the colours of the great Ghaiyyath last time out!

Truly MAGICAL! 💥

The wonder mare is all class as she runs down Ghaiyyath to win her second QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes.

That’s 7 career Group 1 wins too!
pic.twitter.com/ihVjyf4Sqn
— Champions Series (@ChampionsSeries) September 12, 2020

Pallace Pier Puts Unbeaten Record On The Line

Palace Pier gets the opportunity to cement his standing as the top-rated miler in the world in the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO). A race previously won by greats such as Roaring Lion and Frankel.

Five runs have yielded five wins for the three-year-old son of Kingman, who swept through from off the pace to land the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in June before doing likewise in the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville in mid-August.

He will not have it all his way though with rivals in the form of Circus Maximus, Addeybb and Lord North, all Group 1 winners in their own right.

WHAT A RACE 🙌

PALACE PIER and that man Frankie Dettori come home best in a St James's Palace thriller!pic.twitter.com/jDNmEdZVnG
— Champions Series (@ChampionsSeries) June 20, 2020

Super Strad Back For More

Meanwhile, the world’s top-rated stayer, Stradivarius, will face 12 rivals when he attempts to regain his QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup crown.

He has won a record 13 races that fall under the QIPCO British Champions Series umbrella, including the QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup in 2018. He will be hoping to go one better than last year when he just fell short as Kew Garden’s got the better of him!

Follow this behind the scenes short video filmed in 2019, where British Champions Series documented his Champions Day experience.

So close, but it just wasn’t to be for STRADIVARIUS

Live #ChampionsDay through the eyes of his groom Surinder. pic.twitter.com/eudNWnv7sM
— Champions Series (@ChampionsSeries) October 20, 2019

Dreaming Of Champions Day Success

Record-breaking mare One Master and favourite Dream Of Dreams head a strong final field of 17 in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes.

Dream Of Dreams is unbeaten in two starts when partnered by Oisin Murphy, the champion jockey, and, if successful, will provide Sir Michael Stoute, who is 75 next week, with a first success on QIPCO British Champions Day.

Other challengers include Oxted, who provided Roger Teal and Cieren Fallon Jnr with a day to cherish when landing the Darley July Cup at Newmarket this summer. The pair had never previously enjoyed a Group 1 success but Oxted won in commanding style and, having had only nine races, remains open to improvement.

Hollie Hopes For History

Hollie Doyle, who last night at Kempton won her 117^th race of 2020 to break her own British record for the most winners in a calendar year by a woman will look for yet more history this weekend as she bids to become the first female jockey to win on QIPCO British Champions Day.

Her mount, Dame Malliot has performed admirable all year, winning the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket in July and has since twice been placed in Group 1 company on foreign shores.

Her main competitors look to be Wonderful Tonight and the impressive Ger Lyons-trained Even So, who landed the Juddmonte Irish Oaks in impressive style at The Curragh July.