The eyes of the racing world turn to Ascot this Saturday afternoon for one of the finest single-day fixtures of the British flat season. Kicking off with the Group 2 Long Distance Cup and concluding with the Balmoral Handicap, Qipco British Champions Day sandwiches four top-class Group 1 contests between those bookends, headlined by the 2024 edition of the Qipco British Champion Stakes.
Held over the 1m2f trip and offering a championship-worthy £1.3m in total prize money, the middle-distance showpiece boasts the names of Brigadier Gerard, Pebbles, Pilsudski, Frankel, Cracksman, and more on a star-studded roll of honour. Who will join them in 2024?
We will discover the answer to that question shortly before 4pm on Saturday but with the final list of 12 runners and riders confirmed yesterday morning, the market suggests that the 2024 Champion Stakes hero is most likely to emerge from one of the following five contenders.
Calandagan
Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
---|---|---|
Francis-Henri Graffard | Stephane Pasquier | 6/4 |
The French have claimed this prize five times since the turn of the century and have sound claims of making that a half dozen in 2024. A strong Gallic squadron heads across the English Channel ahead of this fixture, with this three-year-old son of Gleneagles leading the charge.
Having scored twice in Group 3 company in his homeland, Calandagan made his first overseas jaunt for the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. What followed was one of the most eye-catching victories of the five-day fixture, as the Aga Khan runner stormed home for a comprehensive success. Finding only superstar City Of Troy too good in the Juddmonte International, he was denied a shot at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe due to his gelding status but looks primed and ready to go close to a first career Group 1 triumph.
Economics
Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
---|---|---|
William Haggas | Tom Marquand | 13/8 |
Having raced only once during his two-year-old campaign – finishing fourth in a Class 4 Novice event at Newmarket – few could have predicted what lay in store for this son of Night Of Thunder in 2024. Four starts into his three-year-old campaign, Economics is yet to taste defeat. Breaking his duck in a Newbury Maiden, he announced himself to the racing world with a 6l demolition job in the Group 2 Dante Stakes, sparking a clamour for the colt to take his place in the Epsom Derby.
However, William Haggas knows best and opted to swerve the Classic in favour of late summer/autumn targets. That decision is reaping its rewards, with the strapping specimen returning with an impressive success in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornana. Last time out, Economics faced the acid test in Group 1 company and confirmed himself a serious talent when denying Auguste Rodin by a head in the Irish Champion Stakes. Going for the Champion Stakes double, he bids to hand his trainer a second success in the race following the 2020 victory of Addeybb.
Los Angeles
Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
---|---|---|
Aidan O’Brien | Ryan Moore | 7/1 |
Unlike Ecomomics and Calandagan, this son of Camelot was already a Group 1 winner heading into his three-year-old campaign – that victory coming in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud on his final start at two. So far, in 2024, he has only built on his reputation.
Having finished a solid third in the English Derby, he ticked the Classic box when landing the Irish version of that race and followed up in the Great Voltigeur at York. Last sighted running a mighty race from the front to finish third in the Arc, he steps back down in trip here but has a two-from-three record at this distance, with the only defeat coming when staying on well into fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes. Boasting copper-bottomed stamina at this distance, the soft ground may be in his favour.
Iresine
Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
---|---|---|
Jean-Pierre Gauvin | Madame Marie Velon | 14/1 |
As a seven-year-old gelding, this ultra-consistent French star wouldn’t be a typical winner of the Champion Stakes – so much so that he will become the oldest winner since 1887 hero Bendigo if coming home in front. However, it wouldn’t be the first time racing has torn the stats book to shreds, and this son of Manduro has much to recommend him.
Finishing inside the top three in 20 of 23 career starts – including 15 wins – he’s a dual Group 1 scorer, and eight of those victories have come on soft or worse going. Returning from a break to bag the Group 2 Prix Foy in September, he won’t go down without a fight.
King’s Gambit
Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
---|---|---|
Harry Charlton | Oisin Murphy | 18/1 |
Roger Charlton picked up 19 Group 1 victories during his hugely successful career without managing to land this prize. Perhaps son Harry will get the job done. The presence of the excellent Oisin Murphy in the saddle boosts his claims, but, on what we have seen to date, he will need a big career best to prevail. That said, he is yet to finish outside the first two in three starts over this distance and finished only ½l behind Los Angeles in the Great Voltigeur last time out.