Qatar Racing Champion Stakes: runner-by-runner guide and tip

A consistent top-level performer, Ed Walker’s five-year-old is certainly capable of winning another Group One, but he has come up short in three attempts since winning the Tattersalls Gold Cup on his seasonal debut in May.

Painfully for Ed Walker and connections, the son of Lope De Vega traded at 1.01 in running in the Juddmonte International, only to be collared by Item as they hit the line. There was no shame in getting narrowly beaten by a progressive three-year-old who thrives at York, though he was slightly below that level when only fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes last month.

He wouldn’t want conditions too quick, but handles good ground without any problems, and he was third in the race 12 months ago behind the re-opposing Calandagan and Ombudsman. He has sound each-way claims yet again.

Having finished in the first two in 13 of his 15 races, Bay City Roller is a credit to connections and ran a huge race when second to Daryz in the Arc from stall 15 just over a week ago.

As the race turned out, being drawn wide was probably an advantage, but it was still a top effort and probably a career best having got slightly closer to Francis Graffard’s colt than he did when second to him in September’s Prix Foy.

A ten-length winner of the Coronation Cup in June in soft ground, he was flattered by the winning margin, but he had won a German Group One by a wide margin on soft the previous autumn, so whilst he handles the faster ground he encountered at Longchamp, he also relishes testing conditions.

This would be his first run at Ascot and he faces a turnaround of just 13 days, but his form this season makes him a leading player.

It is easy to forget that it took the defending champion five attempts to get off the mark at the top level, having finished second in his first four Group Ones, including in this race in 2024.

However, once the son of Gleneagles broke his duck in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last summer, he went on a streak of five consecutive Group One victories, a run which including winning two of Ascot’s biggest prizes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and an emphatic win in last season’s Champion Stakes.

This year, however, he arrives in Berkshire off the back of a King George defeat, with Kalpana having reversed placings in this year’s midsummer showpiece, and the nagging concern is that his trainer will have left a bit to work on fitness wise this weekend after a three-month absence, with a defence of his Japan Cup title the priority.

Rated 130, he still commands huge respect and has a big chance of landing a seventh Group One should he bring his A-game. Christophe Soumillon rides for the first time, with regular rider Mickael Barzalona suspended. 

The four-year-old showed he was capable of winning at Stakes level when finishing second to Gethin in the Magnolia Stakes in April, but the poor boy looks set to serve as Ombudsman’s pacemaker for a fourth time here.

The top-rated runner has produced some of his best performances at Ascot, having won the last two editions of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in impressive style.

Runner-up in this race 12 months ago, he has two and a quarter lengths to make up with the re-opposing Calandagan, but circumstances are different this time around in that the French superstar has has an interrupted campaign with defeats at Epsom and in the King George either side of a Group One win.

It has not been totally smooth sailing for Ombudsman either, who after winning his first three starts of the season, which culminated in a wide margin defeat of Minnie Hauk, Daryz and Almaqam at the Royal meeting, could only manage fourth in the Juddmonte International when last seen.

Granted a clearer run, faster ground conditions and a different ride, and he would have almost certainly finished significantly closer to the winner at York, and he is expected to fare much better back at his favourite track. He possesses a devastating turn of foot, so the faster the ground on Saturday, the better his chance.

Ballydoyle’s Prix du Jockey Club winner was an emphatic winner of the Coral-Eclipse over this distance, and he looked set to be stepped down in trip to contest the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes having been supplemented for the mile contest on Monday morning.

However, connections have decided to target this contest instead.

More will be needed after finishing third in the Irish Champion Stakes last time, and though he did get the better of Almaqam in the race for the places, he seemingly lacked the required stamina at the business end of the race.

The same story looks likely here, but he receives 4lb all round as the only three-year-old in the race.

It is an unusual Champion Stakes in that, despite being full of quality with eight individual Group One winners, just one arrives at Ascot off the back of a win. I am sticking with OMBUDSMAN, already advised for this race, who can show his class back at Ascot after things did not pan out favourably at York last time. His potent turn of foot can see him go one place better this year, ahead of the improving Bay City Roller and the defending champion Calandagan.

1 OMBUDSMAN. 2 BAY CITY ROLLER. 3 CALANDAGAN.

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