Who To Follow At Ascot On British Champions Day 2021

Ascot - October 15 2021
Ascot 14:10
4(5)
Frankie Dettori

Palace Pier

J:
 
Frankie Dettori
T:
 
John & Thady Gosden
Age: 4
Weight: 9-4
OR: 125
Days: 62

The son of Kingman has been pretty much faultless to date, winning both his starts as a juvenile, starting at Sandown back in August winning a nice maiden and then going on to back that up over the same course and distance.

He made his seasonal debut at Newcastle on the all weather seeing off a stern effort from the Richard Fahey trained Acquitted but off the back of that he improved a massive amount to hunt down Pinatubo late in the day at Royal Ascot in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

Having four wins from four races, he put his unbeaten run on the line in the Group One Jacques Le Marois and in heavy ground cleared away from the field with the Jessica Harrington trained Alpine Star the closest to him.

That set him up perfectly for his final run of the season in the Group One Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on British Champions Day, but unfortunately he had to settle for third and lost his unbeaten record, losing a shoe mid-way through the race.

This term, he has been better than ever in his four starts making his seasonal debut at Sandown in the Group Two bet365 Mile and in a race to blow the cobwebs away he took the event by eight lengths.

Fully tuned up for the season, he took on the Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury over a mile and again sauntered to victory, with him and Lady Bowthorpe going clear in the final stages.

His early part of the season was all targeted towards his run in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and in gritty style he made it three wins from three for the season.

Set to turn up in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood he was pulled out with a blood disorder, but having got over that was seen last time out becoming the first horse to land back to back renewals of the Prix Jacques Le Marois since 1997.

A horse that has only been beat once in his 10 race career, he will be looking for revenge in this race and is the stand out candidate to take another Group One.

DateCourseDistanceTypeWeightPosition
15/08/21DEA8Gd9-51
15/06/21ASC8GF9-01
15/05/21NBY8GS9-01
23/04/21SAN8Gd9-11
17/10/20ASC8Sft9-13

Trainer To Follow - John & Thady Gosden

John & Thady Gosden always love this meeting with their big guns all set for their last runs of the season and with that on mind we have put them up as the trainers to follow.

The duo start the day in the Long Distance Cup with the superstar Stradivarius who will be looking for revenge with Trueshan having finished second to him last time out.

Other big chances for the yard are Palace Pier in the QEII, Mishriff in the British Champion Stakes and then Sunray Major and King Leonidas in the Balmoral Handicap.

The training team have been running at an 18% strike rate for the last two weeks with nine winners from 49 runners which is good going ahead of the finale of the flat season.

Jockey To Follow - Oisin Murphy

Oisin Murphy will be looking to wrap up the Jockeys Championship at Ascot on Saturday and looks to have a handful of quality rides to do so.

His best chance of the day comes in the Sprint Stakes where he sits on the second favourite Dragon Symbol, who is always the bridesmaid but now looks to have a big chance to become the bride.

Other chances for the two time champion jockey is Alcohol Free in the QEII, Tribal Craft in the Fillies' and Mares Stakes and Sir Busker in the Balmoral Handicap.

Murphy has landed 10 winners over the last two weeks and will be looking to add to that in a big way to grab the title for a third time.