The Qipco Champion Stakes remains Delacroix’s target on Saturday’s British Champions Day at Ascot despite Aidan O’Brien’s star colt also being entered for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on the same card.
A potentially epic three-pronged clash between Delacroix, Ombudsman and Calandagan remains in the offing in the mile and a quarter highlight to the official conclusion of Britain’s 2025 flat campaign.
The trio are among a list of 15 left in the Champion Stakes after Monday’s latest forfeit stage, including a pair of supplementary entries.
Godolphin have stumped up £75,000 (about €86,000) to add Devil’s Advocate to the race as a pacemaker for his stable companion Ombudsman. Wathnan Racing coughed up the same amount to put their Andre Fabre-trained Prix Dollar winner First Look into it.
RM Block
O’Brien has left in a handful of entries topped by Delacroix. However, he has also kept open the option of switching the Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes winner to a mile for a potential QEII clash with the likely favourite Field Of Gold.
Asked if such a switch was possible, he said it “obviously could happen” but : “The plan is the mile and a quarter [race] at the moment.”
At the weekend, O’Brien definitely pointed Delacroix to the longer contest but since his Derby flop in June there has been a view that the son of Dubawi possesses a level of pace that could make him a top-class runner at a mile.
Either way, Ascot is set to be his final start before retiring to stud. Coolmore Stud’s MV Magnier recently reported: “Delacroix is probably one of the most important horses we have retired in Ireland in a good while. He has everything: race record, pedigree, and he’s a complete outcross, so we can really get behind him.”
The Ballydoyle team has also left Los Angeles in the Champion Stakes. He was out of the money behind Anmaat a year ago and failed to fire in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe earlier this month when last behind Daryz.
The Lion In Winter also holds entries in the Champion Stakes and the QEII but the mile contest is a definite target for Johnny Murtagh’s Alakazi. The Aga Khan-owned colt won the Group Two Solonaway Stakes at the Irish Champions Festival last month.
Saturday’s Long Distance Cup will be run for the first time as a Group One but it required O’Brien’s St Leger third Stay True to be supplemented to bring the entry up to just six horses. They also include Stay True’s stable companion Saratoga, fifth in a Naas handicap on Sunday.
The outstanding favourite looks to be Godolphin’s Trawlerman, winner of the Gold Cup in June, and who beat Kyprios in the race two years ago.
Paddy Twomey’s King Cuan is the sole Irish hope left in the big sprint and Twomey’s supplemented One Look is among a handful of Irish hopefuls in the Filly & Mare after Monday’s acceptance stage.
Ground conditions at Ascot look like being the quickest since 2016 with a largely drying week forecast. The official going was good on Monday, and good to soft in places on the round track.
Clerk of the course, Chris Stickels, said: “As of Monday morning we’ve got good ground on the straight course and we’re good, good to soft in places on the round course.
“We’re not expecting much rain through the week, with just a few light showers in the forecast, so I’d expect that we will be racing on a mixture of good and good to firm ground on Saturday.”
Jump action returns at Punchestown on Tuesday where Glen Kiln looks to have a perfect opportunity to atone for his dramatic last-flight exit at Tipperary earlier this month.
Brian Hayes’s mount is a standout on ratings and although ground conditions may be quicker than ideal, Glen Kiln is already a winner on yielding ground.
Rising Dust is 12lbs higher for scoring at Listowel last time but still looks the one to beat in a later handicap.
A rescheduled Dundalk programme goes ahead on Tuesday evening where Fitzroy Gardens could be on to make a winning handicap debut in the mile and a half finale.
