Ruby Walsh: A fine card awaits but Champions Day is poorly named
Palace Pier won the St James's Palace Stakes and looks hard to oppose in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot today. Picture: Healy Racing
The end is near. Not the world — or maybe it is if you listen closely enough to some experts — but the 2020 Flat season, as the last major fixture in Europe takes place tomorrow afternoon.
It is poorly named if I am being honest. It is a great card with four Group 1 races, a Group 2 and a competitive handicap but Champions Day seems to overstate what it actually is.
Stradivarius, Magical, and Palace Pier may well be champions in their own right but it is the fact that so many horses don’t take them on this weekend that takes away from the title of the meeting.
Much to my envy as a National Hunt-bred man, Flat racing is global, but it is because of that status that today will just never fit under its current title.
Dubai in March signals the start of the Flat season for the northern hemisphere, just as Sydney signals the end of Australia’s Flat season around the same time.
But from that point on the marquee events are shared on either side of the Atlantic.
Our Classics run toe to toe with the American Triple Crown in May and June before Royal Ascot takes centre stage in the UK and attracts global participants. Goodwood and Deauville share July, and York takes over in August before Ireland gets its twist in September, ahead of Longchamp in October.
The natural sequence is then the Breeders’ Cup in the USA at the end of October before the Melbourne Carnival, Japan Cup and Hong Kong Cup cards kick in in November and December.
One big wheel going round and round but slicing the cake into too many pieces. It is the same in every business: The slices end up too thin.
Whilst Ascot is a card with merit, it signals the finale of the British Flat season, not the crowning of equine champions.
Stradivarius is already the champion stayer, a crown he claimed at Ascot in June.
Palace Pier cemented himself as the best miler in Europe at Deauville in August, but with no Sottsass or Ghaiyyath taking on Magical today, we don’t get a replay of their Leopardstown clash to decide who is the champion.
That said, do we need to decide? The International at York and the Irish Champion Stakes served up classic battles, and Sottsass moved on from his Leopardstown defeat to claim Arc glory.
Of course, I will watch and enjoy of all the action for what it is: High-quality racing taking place on ground slower than perfect for Flat horses. But it will still be very interesting. Can Oisin Murphy master Search For A Song at his first go on her?
She is far from straightforward and if he does, can she serve it up to Stradivarius if he isn't over his run in France 13 days ago?
The Champions Sprint could go any which way, but Dream Of Dreams is a deserving favourite, albeit he is far from a good thing and plenty of opponents are willing to have a go at him.
Sonaiyla, for Paddy Twomey and Billy Lee, could be an interesting outsider to keep an eye on.
With no Love nor Tarnawa, the Fillies & Mares really lacks depth of quality. But Irish Oaks winner Even So could bounce back from her Prix Vermeille disappointment to cap a great season for Ger Lyons and Colin Keane.
Palace Pier looks a class apart in the QEII and could emerge from Ascot with an even bigger reputation than he already has. The Champion Stakes has five runners who are capable of performing at Group 1 level, but Japan seems to be out of form and Addeybb looks to fall slightly short of what will be needed.
At the Royal meeting, Lord North won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in stylish fashion but he was behind Magical at York, and I don’t see how he can turn that form around. That only leaves Mishriff as a challenger to Aidan O’Brien’s great mare.
He could well challenge and maybe even dethrone her, but it will be the last Group race on the card and a duel between Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore could be what saves the day and makes this meeting worthy of its title.
I will be in the Magical corner but should Mishriff win, where does that leave this division in terms of a champion?
Your guess is as good as mine, because this is finale day, not Champions Day.
