Europe

by Tom Baddock Hong Kong champion Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) delivered on the weight of expectation at Randwick on Saturday, producing a high-pressure, high-class performance to claim the AU$20 million G1 TAB Everest and in doing so, confirmed his status as the world's best sprinter. Ridden by Zac Purton, Ka Ying Rising jumped cleanly from barrier seven and settled in his trademark on-speed position. As Overpass (Aus) (Vancouver) cut out a brutal early tempo, Purton kept his mount poised just behind the leaders as Jimmysstar (NZ) (Per Incanto...

Saturday's G1 Qipco Champion Stakes featured the winners of all the big 10-furlong prizes in 2025, but in the end it went to the horse who had still to win over the trip. While Calandagan (Gleneagles) was in danger of being pigeon-holed as a mile-and-a-half performer following his wins in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and King George this summer, The Aga Khan Studs homebred went through Ascot's test with ease under Mickael Barzalona. Swooping wide approaching the final furlong, the 15-8 second favourite powered to the line to beat...

Adding another bizarre twist to the 2025 Qipco British Champions Day, the 100-1 shot Cicero's Gift (Muhaarar) swooped under Jason Watson to conquer for the sport's revered Hills family in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Not really in the vicinity of the best of these on form, Rosehill Racing's gelding outstayed The Lion In Winter (Sea The Stars) in the final furlong to register the second of the card's major upsets by 1 1/4 lengths. Alakazi (Footstepsinthesand) was a neck away in third as the big favourites all failed...

Leopardstown's Saturday card belonged to Aidan O'Brien and Jack Cleary and their winning sequence included a bright prospect for the 2025 Classics in Christmas Day (Camelot) in the nine-furlong G3 Mongey Communications Eyrefield Stakes. Coming off a maiden win at Gowran Park last month, the 13-2 shot was delivered from the pack to deny A Boy Named Susie (Starspangledbanner) on the line and prevail by a short head. "He's progressed from run to run and he took great confidence from the win the last day," Ballydoyle's representative Chris Armstrong explained....

Juddmonte's star distaffer Kalpana (Study Of Man), trapped wide and never really a factor in this month's G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, bounced back to her best in imperious fashion and outsmarted her rivals for back-to-back renewals of Saturday's G1 Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares at Ascot. "It was a great performance and she's been very consistent all year," said winning rider Colin Keane. "Things didn't go to plan in France and fair play to Andrew [Balding] and the team for making the call to bring her back...

Last term's G2 Mill Reef Stakes winner Powerful Glory (Cotai Glory) was the lowest-rated and least experienced contender lining up for Saturday's G1 Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot and, having beaten just one rival in two starts this season, came home with a career high after posting a 200-1 shock in the straight six-furlong dash. His odds are the longest for the winner of a European Group 1 contest, surpassing Qirat's 150-1 in this term's G1 Sussex Stakes. "We always thought he was a nice horse, but at 200-1...

It didn't take long for Ballydoyle to register a winner on Qipco British Champions Day as Mission Central (No Nay Never) came good in the second act of the afternoon at Ascot. Following an eight-length Curragh maiden win with success in the Round Tower, he was sent to the Flying Childers at Doncaster but failed to get into the five-furlong contest dominated by Revival Power. This was much more in his comfort zone and he was always travelling notably strongly tracking the pace before being launched by Christophe Soumillon inside...

Godolphin's G1 Gold Cup victor Trawlerman (Golden Horn), who has also picked up wins in this term's G3 Henry II Stakes and G2 Lonsdale Cup, sealed his status as the year's outstanding stayer with another defeat of his John and Thady Gosden-trained stablemate Sweet William (Sea The Stars), in race-record time, in Saturday's G1 Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot. "Trawlerman is a relentless galloper and I couldn't be more thrilled with him," beamed John Gosden. "It is late in the year for him and he has been...

Saturday, Ascot, post time: 16:05, THE QIPCO CHAMPION STAKES-G1, £1,417,500, 3yo/up, 9f 212yT Field: Almaqam (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), First Look (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Fox Legacy (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Ombudsman (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), Prague (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Almeric (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}), Delacroix (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Devil's Advocate (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), Mount Kilimanjaro (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). TDN Analysis: The Champion Stakes as it should be but not always is, with...

Riding a three-race winning streak, Kamunyak (Black Tide) faces 17 rivals in the G1 Shuka Sho over 2000 metres at Kyoto on Sunday. The third jewel of the Japanese Triple Tiara brings together the winners of the first two legs. A winner of the G2 Flora Stakes, G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and G2 Rose Stakes in succession, the last coming on September 14, the filly is the one to beat. She had Theresa (Admire Mars) back in second with G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies second Vip Daisy (Satono Diamond) fourth...

The two-day BBAG October Sale kicked off in Germany on Friday with lot 101, a chestnut filly by Torquator Tasso, selling for €110,000 to A-Turf. Consigned by Gestut Hof Ittlingen, the daughter of Lucy Lou (Soldier Hollow) is a half-sister to €200,000 Ferdinand Leisten Memorial BBAG Auktionsrennen hero Loucas (Best Solution). The duo are from the extended family of G1 German Derby hero and sire Lando. Second on the buyers' sheet was lot 120, a filly by Alson, who caught the eye of Gestut Fahrhof and Philip, Baron von Ullmann...

After a summer of toing and froing and ding-dong battles, Ascot's feature G1 QIPCO Champion Stakes brings it all to a satisfyingly gladiatorial climax on Saturday. Having revelled in Ombudsman's dramatic surge at the end of the Prince of Wales's, Delacroix's huge move coming off Leopardstown's bend in the Irish Champion and the relentless power of Calandagan at the close of the King George, it all comes together in a perfect blend on a perfect sunlit autumn afternoon for the latest QIPCO Champions Day. The headline race is a qualifier...