Find all previous Seymour Biz racing previews in his weekly column: Saturday Horse Racing Tips.
ITV are concentrating solely on the big meeting, British Champions Day, at Ascot as the flat season draws to a close. And although Doncaster has a couple of big meetings to come later this month and early in November, to all intents and purposes, Ascot draws the curtain down for the year. All six races will be televised, one handicap, a Group 2 and no fewer than four Group 1’s and this year the going looks as if it will be nigh on perfect at good to soft and the forecasters are even promising there will be some October sunshine.
So there should be no excuses this time around for any poor performances so we should have some really exciting racing to look forward to and with that in mind here are my thoughts for this week’s Lucky Fifteen.
Ascot Champions Day Lucky Fifteen
1.25 Stradivarius
2.00 Happy Romance
3.50 Adayar
4.30 Al Rufaa
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365
The first race on the Ascot card is the 1.25- the Quipco British Champions Long Distance Cup run over two miles. This sees a rematch of Alan King’s Trueshan and John Gosden’s Stradivarius after their battle at Longchamp two weeks ago where Trueshan prevailed by over 4 lengths but this time King’s charge may not have the ground in his favour and Stradivarius, who loves it round here, may make it the seventh Ascot win in his career, including one in this race in 2018.
Of the others, William Haggas’s Hamish has run only once in the last 16 months winning on Kempton’s all-weather in early September but this is a bigger ask.
There are two Irish raiders trained by Joseph O’Brien, Baron Samedi and Master Of Reality and the former looks the better of the two but he may need some cut in the ground.
Another Irish trained horse is Aidan O’Brien’s The Mediterranean who is a consistent performer but invariably finds one or two too good. He was well beaten at the Curragh last time out. So I go for Stradivarius to add to his illustrious career as the best long-distance horse of his generation.
The Quipco British Champions Sprint Stakes is at 2.00 run over 6 furlongs and this looks like a very open contest this year. One of the favourites is Tim Easterby’s Art Power who was fourth here last year. He won on his latest outing at the Curragh where he won going away but may want some give in the ground.
Another fancied horse is Archie Watson’s Dragon Symbol who is only a 3-year-old and has had a busy season already, including having been disqualified here at Ascot in the Commonwealth Cup in June. He has been consistent since but has not been successful and may well be in the frame here.
Owen Burrows’ Minzaal had shown excellent form as a 2-year-old but was not seen this year until earlier this month when running here at Ascot and finishing second on the ground that possibly didn’t suit him, he could go close.
But I will go for a proven performer with Richard Hannon’s Happy Romance who won at Salisbury in July then ran a fine fourth in the Sprint Cup at Haydock last month where he had several opponents he will meet here behind him. He will have the ground he prefers and reproduction of that form can see him take this.
The richest race of the day is the Quipco Champion Stakes at 3.50 and as expected, this 10-furlong contest has attracted some star performers.
William Haggas’s Addeybb is back to defend the crown he won twelve months ago but he is a 7-year-old now and will not get the soft ground he had last year.
The hot favourite is Mishriff trained by John Gosden. He missed the Arc meeting for this and won well on his latest outing at York in August where he romped clear but is he the same horse after a 9-week break?
William Haggas’s Dubai Honour is a winner of his last three races latterly at Longchamp at the beginning of this month but on soft going.
Charlie Appleby runs Derby hero Adayar very soon after his exploits in the Arc where, for my money, he was given the wrong ride going for home too early in soft going. There should be more pace on here and if given his Epsom ride and on better ground than he saw in France he can scoot home.
An outsider who may make the frame is Andrew Balding’s Foxes Tales, a course and distance winner in June, who secured a fine victory at Haydock in August and was only narrowly beaten at Newbury last month. He can continue the good work.
The only handicap on the card is at 4.30, the Balmoral Handicap over Ascot’s straight mile. The favourite here is John Gosden’s Sunray Major who won here at Ascot two weeks ago but he has 6 lbs penalty for that win.
Another with a penalty is David O’Meara’s Shelir but this race may come a little soon after his latest victory which was just a week ago.
Joseph O’Brien runs Raise You who after winning at the Curragh in April was sent out in Group Company but failed to shine. He has had only one run since July and it remains to be seen if he can come back after that lay-off.
The Gosden’s have three other runners here besides the favourite and the best of which could be Al Rufaa who sneaks in here at the bottom of the handicap after running a shocker last time but was a fine second previously at Sandown. If he can reproduce that Sandown form, he has a great chance off bottom weight.
Ascot Champions Day Lucky Fifteen
1.25 Stradivarius
2.00 Happy Romance
3.50 Adayar
4.30 Al Rufaa
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365
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