Early Light

EARLY LIGHT 
Ascot’s Qipco Champions Day fixture is opened up with a genuine luminary as Leading Light (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) takes place in the lineup for the G2 Qipco British 
Champions Long Distance Cup. Suffering his first defeat beyond a mile and a half when runner-up in the G1 Irish St Leger at The Curragh last time Sept. 14, Derrick Smith’s G1 St Leger and G1 Gold Cup hero bids to get back on track in this increasingly important contest on the staying calendar. Re-opposing Ballydoyle’s star turn is The Queen’s Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}), who went down by a neck in the Royal meeting’s Gold Cup June 19 only to be disqualified from second due to the discovery of morphine in her post-race test. Subsequently successful in the G2 Doncaster Cup over 18 furlongs Sept. 12, she faces testing ground which may not prove ideal. “Estimate disappointed last year in soft ground, but we found she had an injury,” trainer Sir Michael Stoute told PA Sport. “Monsun’s usually like soft ground, so we’ll give it a shot. She loves Ascot, but she will have to take on Aidan’s Gold Cup winner and he is a very good stayer, no doubt about that. He’ll be hard to beat, but we think we’re in very good shape.” 
Dermot Weld has a keen eye for these marathons and puts forward a dark horse to be respected in Moyglare Stud Farm’s Forgotten Rules (Ire) (Nayef). He made his only start on the flat a winning one when impressing in a 14-furlong conditions race at Galway at the beginning of August. “He’s a totally unexposed horse, but we’ve always thought he was very good,” jockey Pat Smullen told PA Sport. “His lack of experience might count against him in a race like this, but we hope he can develop into a high-class stayer and one thing we do know about this horse is he won’t mind the ground.”