Ascot British Champions Day Paddock Notes

By David Cleary

Horse Racing

Thu October 24, 2024 · 1M ago

David Cleary reflects on his paddock notes from QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot.

Anmaat did remarkably well

It's commonplace to say that one of the problems with Champions Day is that it comes so late in the campaign that it brings the danger that results will have an end-of-season feel to them. Suggesting they're running horses past their best for one big payday doesn't give the top trainers much credit, the time when the Flat season ran from the end of March to the first weekend in November fading into history, the calendar now an international, rolling 12-month circus.

On Saturday, four of the five pattern races on an excellent card make for pretty straightforward reading from a form perspective, three of the four falling to the favourite and form pick, which isn't to say they were one-sided or uncompetitive.

The exception was the Champion Stakes itself, but this was surely just a messy race that could have happened at any time of year. It was run on soft ground on the inner Flat (hurdles) track, the pace was tempered by the ground, and space became at a premium as the field massed into the straight.

A furlong out, Anmaat was set to be one whose performance would need marking up significantly after he'd seemingly lost all chance, travelling smoothly turning in, but carried back out of contention by a weakening pair that had been close to the pace. Around 170 yards later, Anmaat had pulled the race out of the fire, a miracle run taking him to the front with 50 yards or so to spare.

It bears repeating: Anmaat did remarkably well to win, his performance deserving an upgrade. And yet it appeared a significant improvement on anything he'd done previously. Could the form be trusted?

Well, probably it could (accepting the result sort of handicapping 101). How to make sense of it – well, Anmaat is very lightly raced for his age, he'd looked a potentially very smart performer as he progressed at four; and he coped well with the conditions which were testing, though not extreme. In other words, the result was explicable – Anmaat is a high-class horse who just hadn't had the chance to show it previously.

The other side of the coin is whether Anmaat can run to that level again. That he's very lightly raced is both a reason for him to have found the improvement, but also a reason why he won't repeat it, due to fragility. Plus, he'll be a seven-year-old in 2025. It seems a fair bit more likely that the runner-up Calandagan or his market rival Economics, who bled, both of them three-year-olds, will be adding a further Group 1 to their tally, rather than Anmaat.

Calandagan himself had done well to wriggle through after looking to be liable to being boxed in. It's arguable that he wasn't ideally served by the run of the race at a mile and a quarter and appeals as sure to win a good race or two at four years. He seems likely to be back at Ascot, with the Hardwicke and King George plausible targets.

As for Economics, hopefully his connections can overcome the problem that his bleeding revealed. His record prior to Saturday was hard to fault, and he was definitely coming into the race with more to offer. Fingers crossed.

Charyn best kept to a mile?

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, the main supporting race, went very much to form. In the absence of the very best three-year-old milers, Charyn confirmed his position as the leader of the older brigade. In a way it might have been good to see him follow the likes of Baaeed and Frankel and step up to a mile and a quarter, having nothing left to prove at a mile.

The Champion Stakes would have been a sterner test of his ability. The reason for not doing so would be that his pedigree is hardly that of one that would stay middle distances.

Facteur Cheval, runner-up in 2023, took second placing again, running as well as he ever has. However, most of the others in the QEII were a little underwhelming, Tamfana perhaps finding the race coming a bit soon after the Sun Chariot, though she ran better than most. There ought to be a good race or two to be won with her against the best of her sex next summer.

Road could remain on the Flat

The afternoon opened with the Group 1 that isn't a Group 1, the Long Distance Cup, over two miles. Despite being worth significantly more than either the Prix du Cadran and the Prix Royal Oak, the race carries only Group 2 status while they are Group 1s. However, the Ascot role of honour confirms it a contest worthy of an upgrade.

This year's renewal went to the undisputed champion stayer, Kyprios, who, as in his four-year-old campaign completed a perfect season. He's remarkably consistent, both his poor runs coming very early in his career. He was gaining a seventh win from seven starts this year when landing the odds on Saturday, showing strong stamina and a particularly determined attitude to see off Sweet William – a good horse to have chasing you.

The good news is that Kyprios, one of the most likeable horses in training, will be around again as a seven-year-old, his durability and the fact he's a stayer making him a safer candidate than Anmaat to repeat his best form at that age. Kyprios looks to have a really good temperament, a further reason to suggest that if he stays in good health that he will enhance his superb record still further.

Although he wasn't good enough, Burdett Road, in mid-field behind Kyprios, ran an encouraging race over a trip that looked to stretch him. Connections may well be looking to a return to hurdling with him, but it may well be more lucrative, sad to say, to campaign him on the Flat overseas during the winter. The number of opportunities, given his level of ability would be far greater on the Flat; as a second-season hurdler, Burdett Road has quite a gap to bridge to be competitive against the top two-mile hurdlers, threadbare though that division is.

Kalpana has Arc potential

Kalpana has earned plenty of mentions in dispatches in this column since her handicap win at Newmarket in the spring. She scored off just 78 that day, but had scored subsequently at Listed and Group 3 level. She took her first step into Group 1 company in the Fillies & Mares and proved at home in it straight away, travelling smoothly in behind the leaders and quickening into a decisive advantage in the straight.

Kalpana, a tall, attractive filly who didn't make her debut until January, has the potential to do even better as a four-year-old and would clearly be well worth keeping in training. It wouldn't be a total surprise, come next October, were she to try and emulate her stable-companion Bluestocking and end up running in next autumn's Arc.

Runner-up Wingspan is another who didn't race at two. She doesn't have the physical presence of the winner, but she's done nothing but improve with racing and is another who would be well worth keeping in training.

The Champions Sprint was a victory for trends, after a fashion. Kind Of Blue followed his 'uncles' (his dam's full-brothers) Deacon Blues and The Tin Man in winning the race for James Fanshawe's yard. Kind of Blue had been just touched off in the Sprint Cup on his previous start and stepped up on that again, encountering soft ground for the first time, at Ascot.

Kind of Blue was having just the seventh start of his career in the Champions Sprint and is really only starting to show what he can do. The spoils in this division often get fairly widely shared and this was a finish of fine margins. However, perhaps Kind of Blue, who looks the type that could well develop further physically over the winter, can find the improvement require to be more dominant in the division next year.

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