Five G1 races were contested at Ascot overnight as the British flat season culminated with a dazzling day of racing, but there were shocks and surprises with only two favourites saluting on a day which was significant back in 2023 as the last time Via Sistina (IRE) raced in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Group I Champion Stakes (1m2f) in which Via Sistina ran second is the highlight of the program and the richest of the G1 races on offer with the expected battle between race favourite Ombudsman and star 3YO Delacroix failing to materialise.
Victory went to the French trained raider Calandagan, who was second in this race last year as a 3YO. He won by two and a quarter lengths over Ombudsman with Delacroix in fourth place.
Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, Calandagan is a homebred gelding for Aga Kha Studs by Gleneagles and has now three G1 races in a row this year with his overall record seven wins from 13 starts.
The Group I Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (1m) produced a 100-1 winner with the Charlie Hills trained Cicero’s Gift an unlikely winner over Ballydoyle runner The Lion in Winter with race favourites Fields of Gold and Rosallion unplaced.
A 5YO gelding by Muhaarar that had a wind operation at the start of the year, Cicero’s Gift exceeded all expectation to produce a career best win and has won six of 15 starts with his previous best result a Listed win at Sandown at his start leading into this.
A modest yearling purchase, Cicero’s Gift was bought by McKeever Bloodstock / C Hills for 32,000 guineas from Tattersalls October Book 3 Yearling Sale.
The Group I British Champions Sprint (6f) was another blow out result with the race favourite Lazzat going down to a 200-1 shot Powerful Glory, a 3YO colt by Exceed and Excel stallion Cotai Glory trained by Richard Fahey.
He looked a big talent winning a G2 race at his second start last year as a juvenile, but ended up also having a wind operation this year after losing form and was last of five when returning from that surgery at Beverley last month.
He made a lie of that when scoring a neck win in a big field of 19 over an elite sprinter in Lazzat to join1822 St Leger winner Theodore as the biggest priced winner of a top-level Flat race in British racing history.
Powerful Glory has won three of five starts and has always shown talent having been purchased for £190,000 by Blandford Bloodstock at the Goffs UK Breeze Up Sale last year.
The Group I British Champions Filly and Mare (1m4f) produced a more conventional result with the Juddmonte Farms homebred mare Kalpana bouncing out of her seventh place finish in the Arc to win comfortably as favourite for the Andrew Balding stable.
A 4YO mare by Study of Man, Kalpana won the same race last year and has the overall record of six wins from 14 starts.
The Group I British Champions Long Distance Cup (2m) delivered a popular win for Godolphin homebred stayer Trawlerman trained by John and Thady Gosden.
The 7YO gelding won this race in 2023 when it was a G2 and was third last year, but is in career best form this year reeling off four successive wins including the G1 Royal Ascot Gold Cup back in June.
Trawlerman has won 11 of 23 starts and is the best offspring of Epsom Derby winner Golden Horn.
