Aidan O’Brien can dominate proceedings on Qipco Champions Day at Ascot, with Paddington to headline a treble for the Ballydoyle team.
The three-year-old suffered a shock defeat at York on his most recent start when he had no answer as Frankie Dettori executed a front-running masterclass aboard Mostahdaf in the Juddmonte International. That length and a quarter eclipse brought a magnificent seven-race winning run to an end, but there appeared to be excuses as O’Brien felt the colt was in need of a break after a tough schedule that included victories in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes, Eclipse and Sussex Stakes, while it was by far the fastest ground he had encountered and it did not appear to suit.
The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes is run on the testing flat track whatever transpires, so given the way Paddington ploughed through the mud at Goodwood he is sure to handle conditions and, refreshed from a short break, the son of Siyouni can get back on the winning trail.
The three races on the round course – the Long Distance Cup, Fillies’ And Mares’ Stakes and the Champion Stakes itself – present more of a quandary on the going front.
Kyprios still looks to be the premier pick in the stayers’ contest though, having won a Gold Cup at this track on good to firm and a Prix du Cadran on very soft ground at ParisLongchamp. A joint infection meant he did not make his return until last month in a creditable second in the Irish St Leger, and that outing should have brought him on in leaps and bounds.
The stable’s Jackie Oh is more of a tentative selection in the Fillies’ And Mares’, where she steps up to 12 furlongs for the first time on the back of a narrow defeat by Blue Rose Cen in the Prix de l’Opera at the start of the month. That was a career-best effort, and while Jackie Oh is yet to test her mettle over this trip, her full-sister Hibiscus got the distance, as did her half-brother Secret State, so there is plenty of optimism in the pedigree.
Bay Bridge can successfully defend his Qipco Champion Stakes title for Sir Michael Stoute. The five-year-old has endured a slightly frustrating campaign in placing twice in Group One company before losing any real chance of victory in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes after stumbling early on and subsequently taking a fierce hold which proved his undoing in the finish.
Winner of a Kempton Group Three on his penultimate run, Bay Bridge again raced keenly in the Arc, with that eagerness seeing him weaken in the finish over a 12-furlong trip that is at the very edge of his limitations at the highest level. Back in distance and capable on any ground, Bay Bridge has plenty in his favour.
Kinross should ensure Dettori does not leave Ascot without a winner on what is his final European engagement before an autumn of international travel and a new life in America next year. The rider has previously described this gelding as his “cash machine”, and he is likely to be paying out again in the British Champions Sprint despite a surprise reverse at ParisLongchamp on Arc weekend.
Kinross has been in fine form this term, taking third in the July Cup on his second start of the campaign before winning Group Two contests at Goodwood and York ahead of his French trip. Ralph Beckett’s charge was slightly impeded at a crucial stage by winner Kelina and while he stayed on with purpose, beaten half a length, Dettori’s appeal to the French stewards was unsuccessful.
Kinross thrives on a testing surface and can add to last year’s win in this event before heading off to Hong Kong in December.
