Almanzor Heads Deep Champion Field

Despite being the end of the season the fields are holding up well for British Champions day and the G1 QIPCO Champion S. has 19 acceptors headed by Jean-Claude Rouget's brilliant 3-year-old Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). The colt brought up a four timer when beating Found (Ire) (Gailleo {Ire}) in the G1 QIPCO Irish Champion S., form which received a significant boost in the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Also on target is last year's winner Fascinating Rock (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) who has missed some recent engagements and will need to be in peak condition to successfully defend his title. Another coming back from a longer layoff is 2015 G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby winner Jack Hobbs (GB) (Halling). He injured his pelvis on his seasonal debut at Newmarket back in April and trainer John Gosden is looking forward to the weekend. “We're very pleased to have him back on Saturday though it's not a particularly easy race to have him come back in! The field is not only deep but very strong. He's had the summer off which has given him time to develop. With his sire they get better with age and time has benefited him enormously.” Jack Hobbs finished third in the race last year as evens favourite and while Gosden feels the 4-year-old is ready to do himself justice he is under no illusions as to the task at hand. “He's in great order and is not the type to be ring rusty. He won first-time out as a three-year-old. But we're aware we're coming back in a fantastic renewal of the race.” Arc heroine Found finished second in the race last year en route to winning at the Breeders' Cup and could yet make a quick reappearance with Coolmore's UK representative Kevin Buckley saying, “She ran in the three races last year, hopefully she'll do it again this year and hopefully go one better at Ascot.”