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Solow and Muhaarar, Europe’s champions elect in the Mile and Sprint divisions, are set to round off their seasons at Britain’s richest raceday, the £4.1m QIPCO British Champions Day, at Ascot on Saturday 17th October.
This will be the first time that a single British card has featured four Group 1 races and this quartet of contests, together with the Group 2 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup, have a total of 127 horses still engaged following yesterday’s (Tuesday) scratching stage.
One highlight will be the appearance of the first non-European runner at QIPCO British Champions Day, the Singapore raider Emperor Max, in the Group 1 £600,000 QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes.
The winner of ten of his 20 career starts and twice runner-up in Singapore’s top race for speedsters, the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint, Emperor Max will arrive in England on the back of victory in the Group 3 Garden City Trophy at Kranji on September 20th.
“We are stepping into the unknown bringing Emperor Max to Britain but we are not coming for nothing as Max is a true race horse and a tough customer,” says Gray.
“He is very relaxed and when you look at his form he is pretty remarkable. He keeps turning up and tries.”
“It is a great story about simple people, Gordon and Ernest Yau, that bred a horse, their only horse, and now they are going to run at Ascot.”
“For me and my family it is a dream. I was at Ascot the day that [World Champion Australian sprinter] Black Caviar won and I said then that it would be a dream to bring a horse here one day.”
“My family will be coming over including my two children, aged 14 and 12, who are very excited as it will be their first chance to watch Max race live – the strict government rules in Singapore do not allow children to go to the races.”
“It is also a dream for Corey Brown, one of Australia’s best jockeys and a Melbourne Cup winner, who will ride Max. And my head lad, Peter Hutton, a former jockey in England, is also very excited.”
Peter Hutton, who will be travelling with Emperor Max who is due arrive at Jane Chapple-Hyam’s yard, Abington Place, in Newmarket late on Saturday (October 3rd) night, said:
“Emperor Max is as good a sprinter as I have had anything to do with. He’s a very intelligent horse who will take the trip to the UK in his stride. Nothing bothers him. We are looking forward to the trip as it will be great for Singapore to have their top sprinter at Ascot on Champions Day, ” says Hutton.
The Charlie Hills-trained Muhaarar, already the winner of two QIPCO British Champions Series Races, the Commonwealth Cup and the Darley July Cup, will be one of Emperor Max’s biggest rivals. He is one of 24 horses remaining in the Group 1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes alongside his stablemate, the Betfred Sprint Cup second, Strath Burn, plus the winner of that race, Twilight Son.
“I am very happy with Muhaarar, he has just been cantering since his last run [on August 9th] but I am going to take him to Lingfield for a racecourse gallop tomorrow [Thursday],” says Hills.
“He is a very straightforward horse with a great temperament and what he has already achieved is quite exceptional, winning three Group 1 races on the trot.”
“Strath Burn looks fantastic in his coat and will take on Muhaarar in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes. I have always thought that he was a very good horse and he will be even better next year.”
Entries for the Group 1 £1 million Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Sponsored By QIPCO over a straight mile are spearheaded by Gleneagles and the French-trained Solow, for whom it will be a third consecutive QIPCO British Champions Series outing following his victories in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.
He has 23 potential rivals including two crack three-year-olds in the shape of Kodi Bear, the winner of last month’s Group 2 Celebration Mile, and Elm Park, a Group 1 scorer in 2014 who bounced back to form after a summer break when landing a Listed race at Sandown Park earlier this month.
Freddy Head, trainer of Solow, said after his gelding took part in a public gallop at Maisons-Laffitte on Monday:
“Solow is very well, Maxime [Guyon, his jockey] was very pleased with him, he was nice and relaxed and he moved well. He has not run since July and I thought that he needed a bit of competition so it was a strong bit of work, they went a good pace.”
“I couldn’t be happier with him and just hope that there is a bit of give in the ground at Ascot, which there usually is come mid October.”
Clive Cox, trainer of Kodi Bear, is also keen on his runners’ chances.
“Kodi Bear is very much on track for the Queen Elizabeth II. I am very happy with him and am thrilled with the way the season has gone for him,” says Cox.
“I am quite relaxed about ground conditions for him, he is very versatile in that respect, and it also helps that he won a Listed race at Ascot last year so we know that he acts well on the track.”
“He was very impressive in the Celebration Mile and having a leading contender for a day like QIPCO British Champions Day is what you dream about, it’s very exciting.”
Andrew Balding, trainer of Elm Park is pleased with Elm Park.
“Elm Park is fine, I have been really pleased with him since Sandown and its all systems go for QIPCO British Champions Day,” said Balding.
“He is entered in both the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over a mile and the QIPCO British Champion Stakes over a mile and a quarter. We will wait until the week of the race to make a decision between the two, having taken into account the opposition and the ground conditions.”
“He is unbeaten in four races over a mile so is clearly not short of speed. His father [Phoenix Reach] stayed a mile and a half well but his mother [Lady Brora] did not get beyond a mile and a quarter and it will be quite a while before we try him over a mile and a half again.”
The Group 1 £1.3 million QIPCO British Champion Stakes over a mile and a quarter has 27 remaining entries including the 2015 Classic winners Golden Horn, Gleneagles and Jack Hobbs.
It could feature both the up-an-coming recent winner of the Group 2 Joel Stakes, Time Test, and the old favourite, Cirrus des Aigles, winner of this race in its inaugural year of 2011 and the only horse to take part in every QIPCO British Champions Day.
Roger Charlton, who came agonisingly close to landing this race last year with Al Kazeem enters Time Test, hoping to make it back-to-back wins.
“Time Test has come out of the Joel Stakes well and is particularly fresh and well. If this ‘Indian Summer’ could remain until Champions Day, that would give him the option of both the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Champion Stakes,” said Charlton.
Corine Barande-Barbe, trainer of Cirrus des Aigles, says her charge is in cracking form and needed his last race in Ireland on his first start for three months.”
“He runs in the Prix Dollar at Longchamp on Saturday and then it’s the plan to go back to Ascot. How he is after the Dollar will make the ultimate decision – the horse will decide,” says Barande-Barbe.
The other Group 1 event on the card is the £550,000 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes over a mile and a half which has 28 remaining entries. The standout amongst them is Simple Verse, recently reinstated as winner of the Group 1 Ladbrokes St Leger following her race day disqualification.