For Champions Day at Ascot, the ITV7 competition includes all seven races from the top quality card, with players competing for a massive £100,000 jackpot. GG tipster Joe Napier gives his selections for the competition below to help guide you towards this enormous prize.
Race 1 – 12.55pm Ascot – Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup (Group 1)
Stay True is an interesting runner stepping up to 2m for the first time as Aidan O’Brien looks for any Ballydoyle resource to defeat TRAWLERMAN. However, the Gold Cup winner will still take some stopping even with a pacemaker employed for Stay True, as a decent gallop is what he thrives on and he should simply outstay his rivals once the race reaches its business end once again. He won this race two years ago when beating the mighty Kyprios and there is no rival close to that level of ability this time around.
Race 2 – 1.30pm Ascot – Qipco British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes
The price is already shortening on a second straight Gosden-trained winner, with SIREN SUIT well-backed since declarations on Thursday. The Cheveley Park juvenile needed only a fraction of his reserves to get off the mark at Kempton most recently, but it was his third in what has proven one of the strongest maidens of the season over 5f here in April that stands out. With a bit more luck in running, he may have downed subsequent Group 1 winner Wise Approach, as well as a number of other Group-placed rivals. This 6f trip should be ideal for him at this stage of his career and he can provide a genuine threat to odds-on favourite Words Of Truth.
Race 3 – 2.05pm Ascot – Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes (Group 1)
A repeat success could be on the cards for KIND OF BLUE, who has been building alluringly back to form throughout this season. It had been a slow start to 2025 for James Fanshawe’s four-year-old as he struggled to back up his breakthrough Group 1 victory in this race in 2024. However, his third at the Curragh two starts back was a distinct improvement, followed up by his second straight runner-up finish in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, which was a clear season’s best. We know he likes racing over course and distance and the sprinting merry-go-round can produce yet another top level winner in this campaign.
Race 4 – 2.45pm Ascot – Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (Group 1)
A fun edition of the Fillies & Mares Stakes in which all of the ten have plausible chances. Kalpana is probably the most talented filly in the field chasing a second straight success in the race, but it is striking how well three-year-olds have done here, claiming seven of the last eight runnings. An eighth in nine can be won courtesy of WEMIGHTAKEDLONGWAY, who returned from a short break to be a close fourth in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera on Arc weekend, but who will be fresher than most and should enjoy stepping back up to 1m4f, having chased home Oaks heroine and Arc runner-up Minnie Hauk in the Irish Oaks at the Curragh.
Race 5 – 3.25pm Ascot – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Group 1)
A fit and firing Field Of Gold will be extremely tough to beat even in a 16-strong field, but there have to be some doubts after his Glorious Goodwood flop and an 80-day absence since. Fallen Angel is in career best form, though a tight turnaround between her Falmouth Stakes victory could be tricky to overcome and one who has had this as a target for a long time is course and distance specialist DOCKLANDS. Harry Eustace’s charge got the nod over Rosallion in the Queen Anne earlier this term, but that took his record over track and trip to 1132221. Across those seven races, he has faced 88 rivals and beaten 83 of them, so he has to be fully respected whenever racing here.
Race 6 – 4.05pm Ascot – Qipco Champion Stakes (Group 1)
Even in this sensational line-up, the standout performer is OMBUDSMAN, who can stamp his authority as the top middle distance horse of his generation. He may have been beaten twice this season, but likely needed the run behind Almaqam in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes, then got roughed about in a brutal edition of the Eclipse at that same venue, when Delacroix swooped late. Either side of that defeat, he was far too good for his rivals in both the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes over course and distance and the Juddmonte International at York, where Delacroix was behind. Others have claims to being high class performers for their time, but a victory here for Ombudsman would elevate him to another level.
Race 7 – 4.40pm Ascot – Balmoral Handicap
The last favourite to win this concluding handicap was in 2017, since which time there have been 80/1, 25/1 and 16/1 winners. Some alternative thinking can go a long way and down the market, OLIVER SHOW looks intriguing. The five-year-old was second in the Lincoln on his first start in the UK this season, with connections celebrating until replays showed he was caught on the line by Godwinson. Since then it has been a difficult season, but he has been campaigned over shorter distances which may not have suited, and his fourth at Doncaster over 6½f two starts back looks a particularly decent performance in this context. He may still be on a winnable handicap mark.
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