Qipco British Champions Day - full results

The results of the races at Qipco British Champions Day 2015, Ascot


12.45 Qipco Long Distance Cup
1st Flying Officer 6/1
2nd Clever Cookie 8/1
3rd Wicklow Brave 10/1


13.20 Qipco Sprint Stakes
1st Muhaarar 5/2f
2nd Twilight Son 4/1
3rd Danzeno 12/1


13.55 Qipco Fillies and Mares Stakes
1st Simple Verse 5/1
2nd Journey 7/1
3rd Beautiful Romance 20/1


14.30 Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes
1st Solow 11/10f
2nd Belardo 33/1
3rd Gabrial 66/1


15.05 Qipco Champion Stakes
1st Fascinating Rock 10/1
2nd Found 9/2
3rd Jack Hobbs Evs f


15.45 Balmoral Handicap
1st Musaddas 7/1
2nd GM Hopkins 10/1
3rd Master The World 14/1
4th Donncha 20/1

Qipco Champion Stakes

Going is good to soft and soft in places on the round course.

Betting:

Jack Hobbs Evs
Found 5/1; 9/2
Vadamos 7/1; 8/1
Fascinating Rock 11/1; 10/1
The Corsican 12/1
14/1 bar

Going behind
Loading

OFF


Maverick Wave pacemaker leads early
Jack Hobbs second

Found in rear

Order: Maverick Wave, Jack Hobbs, Vadamos, The Corsican


Turn for home
Jack Hobbs, The Corsican, Air Pilot

Pack waiting in behind - Found, Fascinating Rock, Air Pilot


FASCINATING ROCK WINS

Found second
Jack Hobbs third

1st Fascinating Rock (10/1) Pat Smullen
2nd Found (9/2) Ryan Moore
3rd Jack Hobbs (Evs f) William Buick

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

Going is good to soft and soft in places on the round course.

Betting:

Solow 11/8; 5/4; 6/5; 11/10
Gleneagles 15/8; 2/1; 9/4; 5/2
Kodi Bear 7/1
Territories 9/1; 8/1
16/1 bar


Going down
Going behind
Loading

OFF

Elm Park early lead
Then Kodi Bear

Solow third, 3L back


Half-way point
Order: Elm Park, Kodi Park, Solow

Solow challenges

SOLOW wins

Belardo second


1st Solow (11/10f) Maxime Guyon 
2nd Belardo (33/1) James Doyle
3rd Gabrial (66/1) Paul Hanagan

Qipco British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes

Going is good to soft and soft in places on the round course.

Betting:

Candarliya 9/2
Simple Verse 5/1; 9/2
Covert Love 11/2; 9/2
Sea Calisi 6/1
Journey 13/2
12/1 Bar


Loading

OFF

Arabian Queen prominent on inside

Journey follows in second

Arabian Queen still leads

Coming to final turn
Order: Arabian Queen, Journey, Simple Verse


Arabian Queen folds
Journey leads
Simple Verse challenges

SIMPLE VERSE WINS

Journey in second
Beautiful Romance takes third


1st Simple Verse (5/1) Andrea Atzeni
2nd Journey (7/1) Frankie Dettori
3rd Beautiful Romance (20/1) James Doyle

Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes

Going is good to soft and soft in places on the round course.


Betting:

Muhaarar 5/2
Twilight Son 9/2; 4/1
The Tin Man 8/1; 7/1; 15/2; 8/1; 9/1
Strath Burn 8/1; 15/2; 8/1; 9/1; 10/1
Lightning Moon 20/1; 14/1; 12/1
Danzeno 14/1; 12/1; 14/1; 12/1
20/1 bar

Loading

OFF

Muhaarar fast away
Lancelot Du Lac up front

Muhaarar going well, strikes lead

Muhaarar goes away

MUHAARAR WINS

Twilight Son in second

Danzeno in third


1st Muhaarar (5/2f) Paul Hanagan
2nd Twilight Son (4/1) Ryan Moore
3rd Danzeno (12/1) Frankie Dettori

Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup

Going is good to soft and soft in places on the round course.

Betting:

Agent Murphy 9/2
Forgotten Rules 9/2
Flying Officer 6/1
Litigant 7/1
Clever Cookie 8/1
Pallasator 8/1
10/1 Bar

OFF
Amour de Nuit leads early on
Simenon in rear

Amour de Nuit continues to lead from Agent Murphy

Litigant in third

Flying Officer moves to third

Final turn

Rough and tumble in the pack

Flying Officer leads

FLYING OFFICER WINS

Clever Cookie finishes fast for second

Wicklow Brave in third


1st Flying Officer (6/1) Frankie Dettori
2nd Clever Cookie (8/1) Graham Lee
3rd Wicklow Brave (10/1) Ryan Moore

Qipco British Champions Day 2015 schedule

The schedule for the six races on British Champions Day 2015 at Ascot is as follows:

12.45 Group 2 Long Distance Cup
13.20 Group 1 Sprint Stakes
13.55 Group 1 Fillies and Mares Stakes
14.30 Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Champions Mile)
15.05 Group 1 Middle Distance Stakes
15.45 Balmoral Handicap 

Stobart Flat Jockeys Championship 2015

The new format of the Stobart Flat Jockeys Championship means that the competition now runs from 2 May 2015 (QIPCO 2000 Guineas Day) until Saturday 17 October 2015 (QIPCO British Champions' Day).

There was a lot of fanfare at the start of the season about the revamped format with Stobart carrying the names of various jockeys in a launch at Ascot racecourse.

Stobart lorry launch at Ascot
https://vimeo.com/126433596

But as the season has gone on, interest in the title has not been sparked. Injury to Ryan Moore and the mid-season retirement of Richard Hughes have not helped the situation.

At the launch Hughes was quoted as saying some PR guff: “I have made it clear from the start that I
won’t be giving up my title without a fight and will doing my best to win it for a fourth and final time. I have backed the new format since it was first announced and we are grateful to Stobart for their sponsorship and support.”

This was all true until something more important came along - i.e. retiring to start a training career mid-season.

As August comes to a close the leader in the race is Silvestre De Sousa - whose name was not on one of the launch lorries, too long perhaps? - who has reached 100 winners from 489 rides. 28 wins behind in second place are William Buick and Paul Hanagan.

If the general public were asked to name the current top 3 riders in the jockeys championship, not many respondents would be able to name any, even if they were racing fans.

The jockey most people would guess, Frankie Dettori, is not even in the top 20. But he does lead the list if the championship were measured by total prize money. Dettori has amassed nearly GB£ 3.5 million in prize money, some way ahead of De Sousa's GB£ 1.6 million.

Stobart is the sponsor on a one-year deal. The choice to take up the option to extend the association or not will be revealing as to the value the company places on the new format.

Stobart Jockeys Championship (as at 31 Aug 2015)

1. Silvestre De Sousa (100 wins)
2.= William Buick (72)
2.= Paul Hanagan (72)
4. Luke Morris (68)
5. James Doyle (66)

British Champions Series - fantasy racing 2015

Our stable had a good start to the new competition over Guineas weekend at Newmarket but despite selecting the winner of both the 2000 and 1000 Guineas we are already back in around 1,500th spot. Some others must have had a really good weekend.

Gleneagles, Ryan Moore and trainer Aidan O'Brien scored 109 points in total for winning the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and Legatissimo and Ryan Moore again earned a further 107 points for the QIPCO 1000 Guineas the following day.

British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

It was a case of "Mission accomplished" for our two fantasy stables on the British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday.

With five races to tackle and double points on offer, this one meeting can really salvage the entire performance of the stable.

We put most of our eggs in the Lady Cecil/Noble Mission partnership in the QIPCO Champions Stakes and the gamble paid off, although Al Kazeem threatened to spoil it.

The horse-trainer combination earned 430 points for the returned price of 7/1 and the second selection of Free Eagle (third at 5/2) added a further 90 points with Dermot Weld also in our leading stable.

Our first stable earned over 1,200 points on the day and leapt up into the the top 3,000, finishing just inside 2,900th place with a total of almost 3,600 points.

The second stable earned 898 points on British Champions Day and finished back around 8,000th place.

It looks like the winning stables were up around the 5,000 points mark for the competition overall, so there is improvement needed for next year.

Top 10 horse races by betting turnover - January to June 2014

The top ten races by betting turnover in the first six months of 2014 were as follows:

1. Crabbie's Grand National
2. Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup
3. Investec Derby
4. Ladbrokes World Hurdle
5. Stan James Champion Hurdle
6. Coral Scottish Grand National
7. Qipco 2000 Guineas
8. Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle
9. BetVictor Queen Mother Champion Chase
10. Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle


Source: HBLB

British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

In an effort to move up the leaderboard we were trying to use our stable changes to get more horse-jockey-trainer combinations as our winning selections to earn the most points we could at York and beyond.

The plan worked beautifully in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday when Tapestry won (90 points), ridden by Ryan More (29 points) and trained by Aidan O'Brien (34 points). One of our stables had all three selected, earning over 150 points.

Richard Hughes was a good source of points too - earning over 60 points in combination with The Grey Gatsby for coming second to Australia in the Juddmonte International Stakes and 77 points for winning the Nunthorpe Stakes aboard Sole Power.

Our leading stable has now earned more than 2,000 points, whilst the other is approaching 1,800. But large leaps up the leaderboard are still eluding us.

Top 10 horse races by betting turnover - April to June 2014

Top 10 races by betting turnover in Q2 2014, according to HBLB data:

1. Crabbie's Grand National
2. Investec Derby
3. Coral Scottish Grand National
4. Qipco 2000 Guineas
5. Investec Oaks
6. Ascot Gold Cup (Royal Ascot)
7. Prince of Wales's Stakes (Royal Ascot)
8. Qipco 1000 Guineas
9. St James's Palace Stakes (Royal Ascot)
10. Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Royal Ascot)

British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

There is now the chance to make two changes to jockeys and/or trainers in the stable before the next British Champions Series (BCS) race, the Juddmonte International Stakes at York on 20 August.

So it is useful to look at performances so far this season and see who could be a useful addition to the stable and who is not cutting the racing mustard.

Jockeys

There are 14 jockeys who have scored more than 100 points so far, with Kieren Fallon (group B) leading the way with 380 points.

Not unexpectedly, 10 out of the 14 jockeys come from groups A (4) and B (6). Maxime Guyon (E) is the best performing jockey from the other groups and has earned 175 points thanks to Miss France in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas.

At the other end of the board, 13 jockeys have scored fewer than 50 points and 7/13 come from groups D and E.

Jockeys in group B - Dettori, Doyle, Hanagan, Atzeni, Fallon, Crowley, Soumillon - seem to have been the key to success so far. Fallon (380) and Hanagan (233) are in first and second on the leaderboard and have won 5 races between them.

But getting any points from the lower groups D and E is a big bonus. Five jockeys have scored no points at all, having had no rides, and 4/5 were from groups D and E.

Trainers

Trainers in group A have won 15 out of 22 races in the BCS so far in 2014. Richard Hannon and John Gosden account for 9 of these wins between them.

But with only one trainer allowed per group, a stable can only have a portion of group A's overall success.

Again, the lower groups are low scoring and anything your stable can pick up is a bonus. 9/15 of the trainers with fewer than 50 points are from groups D and E.

Mark Johnston (330 points) is clear at the top of the table thanks to Somewhat (100/1) holding on for third place in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

Overall, only 8 trainers have earned more than 100 points and the remainder are quite close together.

There is much to ponder before the York meeting and inevitably whoever you switch out of your stable will then pop up with a 25/1 winner in the very next race!

British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

We managed to find the winner of all three of the BCS races at the Glorious Goodwood festival last week but unfortunately they were split over our two stables, so neither stable made giant strides up the leaderboard. Nevertheless, one stable has now accumulated more than 1,750 points and sits in around 4,500th place.

This stable earned more than 100 points from the Nassau Stakes on Saturday by selecting Sultanina (11/2) and Narniyn (7/4). Earlier in the week it also earned 62 points from the QIPCO Sussex Stakes, won by the impressive Kingman and over 50 points in the Artemis Goodwood Cup mainly thanks to Richard Kingscote riding Brown Panther (11/4) into third place.

Our other stable had its best result in the Goodwood Cup earning almost 140 points through a combination of Cavalryman (5/1), Ahzeemah (12/1) and Richard Fahey.

We really need to use our trainer and jockey changes wisely to get more points from them in the remaining races.

British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

Another fairly good return from the latest round of races in the British Champions Series at the July Meeting, Newmarket.

Admittedly, the favourites won the two races - the QIPCO Falmouth Stakes and the Darley July Cup - in the form of Integral and Slade Power. They earned a combined total of around 120 points but we couldn't add much to that with the additional trainer and jockey points.

Our second stable picked up some bits and pieces with Rizeena (28 points)and Ryan Moore (10 points) in the Falmouth Stakes and Frankie Dettori (10 points) aboard Undrafted in the July Cup.

Ascot and Goodwood are next up towards the end of July.

Racing Preview: Qipco 2000 Guineas

The Qipco 2000 Guineas is the first Classic race in the British Flat season. It is run in early May over a distance of a mile (8 furlongs) at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course. The race is open to three-year olds, both colts and fillies. The race title is derived from the approximate value of all the entry fees for the first running of the race.

The race has been won by the favourite for the last three years and John Gosden will try to continue that trend with his unbeaten colt Kingman (7/4f).

2000 Guineas: Leading Contenders

Kingman: three wins from three runs, including two Group 3 victories in the Solario Stakes last season and a good win in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury in April. The Greenham victory was impressive and the colt showed the ability to quicken and had good speed in the closing stages.

Australia: Sired by Galileo and trained by Aidan O’Brien. Not seen on the racetrack since last September when winning over 8 furlongs at Leopardstown. O'Brien has said he could be the best he has trained.

Toormore: Unbeaten after four races, including a course and distance win in the Craven Stakes last month. The highest rated horse in the race on official ratings

War Command: a second entry for Aidan O’Brien and the winner of the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at the end of last season at Newmarket. Not seen since then and will be ridden by Ryan Moore.

Scoop 6: £5 million prize fund

Saturday's (3 May) Scoop 6 total prize fund could reach GB£ 5 million after weeks without a winner.

It is estimated there will be a win fund of around GB£ 3 million and a further GB£ 2 million in the bonus fund.

The Scoop 6 takes in three races from Newmarket, two from Thirsk and one from Goodwood. The final leg is the Qipco 2000 Guineas Stakes (3.50).

Scoop 6 races Saturday 3 May:

Leg 1: 2.05 Newmarket
Leg 2: 2.40 Newmarket
Leg 3: 3.00 Thirsk
Leg 4: 3.30 Goodwood
Leg 5: 3.40 Thirsk
Leg 6: 3.50 Newmarket

Telegraph Fantasy Racing Update

Doncaster’s St Leger meeting provided us with some good points but nothing that dramatically improved our stables’ positions in the standings.

In Friday’s Doncaster Cup we picked the first two home in Times Up (3/1) and High Jinx (2/1) but they were the market leaders and earned just 89 points between them.

Talent (9/1) was good for us in the St Leger itself. Finishing second earned her 38 points, plus we got another 70 points for having selected jockey Jim Crowley.

There is one more race in September – the Nayef Joel Stakes at Newmarket – after which the final window opens for jockey and trainer changes.

This could be a crucial selection period because the final five races are all on British Champions Day itself and all points count double that afternoon. There’s still all to play for!


**Ticket Offer**
The QIPCO British Champions Series is offering a 20% discount on Grandstand Tickets for British Champions’ Day 2013 at Ascot on Saturday 19 October.

Use the promotional code BCD13FG when booking through the Ascot website to receive the discount.

Racing Preview: Coral-Eclipse Stakes

The Coral-Eclipse Stakes is run at Sandown Park over a distance of one mile, two furlongs (10 furlongs) and in 2013 has a first prize of £241, 018. It is a Group 1 contest and forms part of the Qipco British Champions Series.

The race was first run in 1886 and takes its name from a great racehorse of the 1760s. Eclipse was unbeaten in 18 races and went on to sire three of the first five Derby winners. The race pitches the Classic generation of three-year-olds against the older horses in a middle distance contest.

In the last 12 runnings of the Eclipse there have been three three-year-old winners: Sea The Stars (2009), Oratorio (2005), and Hawk Wing (2002). Oratorio and Hawk Wing were both trained by Aidan O’Brien and he enters the only three-year-old in the 2013 race in the form of Mars. The Galileo colt has finished sixth in the 2000 Guineas, sixth in the Epsom Derby, and third in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

It is common for runners in the Coral-Eclipse to have raced at Royal Ascot just a few weeks before, often in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes over the same distance. Indeed, Al Kazeem, Mukhadram, The Fugue, and Miblish all lined up in that race at Royal Ascot 2013 with the first three listed filling the places.

Aidan O’Brien’s other runner in the race, Declaration Of War, won the Queen Anne Stakes over a straight mile (8f) at Royal Ascot but has also won over 10 furlongs.

The final contender in the seven runner field is the German colt Pastorius. The four-year-old has been a globe-trotter in recent months, contesting the Group 1 Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot last October, the Group 1 Prix Ganay at Longchamps in April, and the Group 1 Singapore Airlines International Cup at Kranji in May.

Recent years have seen several short-priced favourites win the race, a sequence broken last year by Nathanial (7/2), who denied 11/4 favourite Farhh (subsequent winner of the 2013 JLT Lockinge Stakes) by half a length.