SINCE being introduced in 2011, Ascot’s British Champions Day fixture has provided the chance to see many stars of the Flat season for a final time before attention turns to the Jumps.
Recent rain has turned the Ascot going soft and with up to 17mm of rain forecast for Friday, the conditions could be attritional come race time.
An ability to handle deep ground will be paramount on Saturday and I’ll certainly be looking for horses with proven form on heavy going.
While the Champion Stakes (3.55pm) is the feature event, my biggest fancy on the day would be in the earlier Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.15pm).
There is no getting away from the fact that favourite Charyn has had a brilliant season, recording two Group One successes as well as finishing runner-up twice, while he also has the ability to handle really bad ground as he showed on his reappearance at Doncaster in March.
That said, this will be his seventh run of the campaign, so he has been on the go a long time.
He also appeared to struggle to hold his position early last time on soft ground behind Tribalist, which has to be a small worry.
For that reason, I wouldn’t want to take too short a price and would be happy to take him on with French raider FACTEUR CHEVAL at around the 8/1 mark.
He proved he can handle appalling ground when runner-up to Big Rock in this race 12 months ago and he’d have finished closer then if he hadn’t been trapped behind a wall of horses before eventually getting out to make his move.
Watching that race back, he was actually making up ground on the winner late on that day late on and his ability to handle these conditions is key.
This will only be his fourth race of what has been a light campaign, so he comes here a fresh horse.
After winning a Group One in Meydan back in March, things didn’t go to plan on his trip to Royal Ascot.
He ran much better, again on fast ground, back at Goodwood behind Notable Speech in the Sussex Stakes.
A good break since will have freshened him up and he should run well with conditions in his favour.
As is often the case, the Champions Sprint (1.55pm) looks one of the most open races on the card.
SPYCATCHER’s form figures (1412331) on soft or worse over the last few seasons are encouraging and that includes a third when not having the smoothest of passages in this race 12 months ago.
He has found the ground too lively on his last two starts and is better judged on his Group Two win at Deauville in August.
Karl Burke’s stable continues to be in red-hot form, and he looks a decent each-way bet at 25/1 in a wide-open contest.
Talking of wide-open contests, the closing Balmoral Handicap (4.35pm) is another.
David O’Meara has taken this three times in the last 10 years and looks to have BOPEDRO down to a dangerous handicap mark.
He finished fourth in this race last year, off a mark of 102, and now lines up six pounds lower in the weights.
A good third over seven furlongs here earlier in month, he will handle conditions and might be able to get closer now, so odds of 25/1 make plenty of appeal.
POINTERS SATURDAY
Spycatcher e/w 1.55pm Ascot
Facteur Cheval e/w 3.15pm Ascot
Bopedro e/w 4.35pm Ascot