QIPCO British Champions Day comment and analysis

Alright Aidan, you can have the Long Distance Cup. Kyprios, take a bow. You are the fastest slowest horse in training and no horse can match you in the marathon sphere. We look forward to you trying to break records next year.

But everything else on QIPCO British Champions Day – and how often have we said this in either code the last few years – went to Team GB. Owen Burrows, Andrew Balding and James Fanshawe won their first Group Ones of the year. Roger Varian his third, in what might’ve been a year to forget without these top-level successes, thanks to the street-fighting Charyn.

The unlikely star of the show, though, was Burrows’ Anmaat, who won the QIPCO Champion Stakes despite being unlucky in the run, a staggering state of affairs really considering the six-year-old gelding was an unconsidered 40/1 chance.

“He was the best horse in the race,” said jockey Jim Crowley afterwards and he was right. To go on and win after the rough passage he had to endure was of great credit to the son of Awtaad, whose previous best run was a win in the 10-furlong Prix Dollar on very soft ground at ParisLongchamp in this month a year ago. Ah, you see. The clues were there.

It has to be said, though, this looked like one of the least likely results beforehand. Here was a race with about 90 per cent of the field in better form after Anmaat finished a disappointing fifth in this year’s renewal of the Dollar behind Jayarebe.

Perhaps he bounced after his Haydock win on his return from 439 days off in August, perhaps this year’s Dollar wasn’t run to suit. Perhaps both. What we do know is Burrows is developing a reputation for getting the best out of horses that have suffered long lay-offs and you can add Anmaat to the lengthening list.

A good training performance, then, there is no doubt. As for Crowley, it was a white-knuckle ride and he’ll have been fearing the worst when the door closed on him twice in the straight as first King’s Gambit and then Los Angeles impeded him.

With a furlong to go he was rolling, but still fourth, and it’s to the horse’s great credit he picked up so well in really testing ground to overhaul Calandagan and Royal Rhyme – both of whom had to wait to make their challenges at crucial points.

Crowley, in the end, timed it to perfection, no doubt a sweet moment for him after he finished only fourth on 1/4 chance Baaeed in this race two years ago when all of the eyes of the racing world were on him.

Not many eyes will have been trained on Anmaat from the start, but they were by the winning post on a day when spirit came to the fore.

Charyn dug deep to win the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for Varian and Silvestre de Sousa, seeing off a strong challenge from Facteur Cheval despite travelling all over the field deep into the contest.

“Do not sit on horses on soft ground going uphill,” an exasperated Seb Sanders said when analysing De Sousa’s ride on Sky Sports Racing, but the Brazilian got away with it, his horse digging deep to regain his momentum in the closing stages.

A massive horse for Varian in 2024 after a year in which he lost King Of Steel and the Amo horses, as well as the support of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum. It’s a shame for him Charyn is off to stud, as on this evidence he’d give next season’s four-year-olds a run for their money.

Staying in training will be Kalpana for Balding and Juddmonte, a filly who delivered on all the potential she showed at Hamilton and Kempton when running away with the Fillies & Mares under William Buick on ground that will have been alien to her.

She handled it brilliantly and with versatility added to her list of traits 2025 could be a big year for the daughter of Study Of Man.

Ditto that sentiment for Fanshawe’s Kind Of Blue. “We’ll look forward to next spring,” he said after winning the Champions Sprint for a third time with a horse that comes from the same family, Kind Of Blue being related to Fanshawe’s previous winners Deacon Blues and The Tin Man.

He showed the class of the former and the courage of the latter to see off perennial bridesmaid Swingalong, travelling well in a prominent position before knuckling down to get the job done.

That was what was required on a day where you had to get down and dirty to land the trophies. Tough going, but 2024 Champions Day shone a light on British racing – in more ways than one.

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