Four horses who will love the ground at Ascot on Qipco British Champions Day

DIVISION – Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes

The ground is ‘Good’ at Ascot for Qipco British Champions Day and those horses that have been saved for softer conditions are going to be out of luck.

There might even be a few ‘Good to Firm’ patches in places around the Ascot heath with the weather set fair and it makes a welcome change that the end-of-season championship races will be fought out on ground that doesn’t resemble a bog.

The new juvenile race, the Qipco British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes, is another welcome addition to the day and William Haggas’ DIVISION will love the ground judging by his win at York last Saturday.

The son of Kingman bounced off the good ground on the Knavesmire as he travelled smoothly on his way to Listed Coral Rockingham Stakes victory and he’s going to be a threat to all if turned out again quickly, with favourite Words Of Truth displaying his best form on ground Timeform recorded as ‘Soft’ in the Mill Reef at Newbury.

LATAKIA – Fillies & Mares

It will be interesting to see if LATAKIA takes up her entry in the Fillies & Mares for Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winning trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. She would give owners Juddmonte a fascinating second string behind Kalpana but she shouldn’t be underestimated.

Sent off a well-fancied 9/2 chance for the Prix de Royallieu, she had to prove she stayed 1m6f in very soft ground but I don’t think either the distance or the ground conditions played to her strengths on Arc weekend and she could leave that run well behind here.

She displayed a real liking for good ground at Deauville in August when winning the Group 2 Prix Alec Head by a couple of lengths and her dam was a Group 3 winner on good ground at Saint-Cloud, as well.

Indeed, she’s a daughter of Frankel from a family who preferred better ground conditions and in a race where the market principals, namely Kalpana and Estrange, would ideally want it a good deal softer, she comes into the reckoning.

ROSALLION – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

How ROSALLION has not won a Group 1 at four is one of the mysteries of the Flat season. He’s had his ground all year, but has been beaten a nose, a neck and a short head in the Queen Anne, Sussex Stakes and Prix du Moulin, much to the frustration of Richard Hannon.

The good news is he’s going to have two more chances to get his G1 at four yet, with faster ground at Del Mar looking all but guaranteed for the Breeders’ Cup Mile and he’s struck lucky with the Champions Day conditions.

With his form figures at Ascot reading 1-1-2, and his straight track form standing up to close inspection, the stars might’ve finally aligned for Rosallion for all that it looks a deep renewal of the race his trainer won in 2019 with King Of Change.

But if Field Of Gold doesn’t return to his pre-Sussex Stakes form, then Rosallion could finally break his duck for the season on ground that should allow his best qualities to come to the fore.

DELACROIX – Champion Stakes

All of DELACROIX, Ombudsman and Calandagan look versatile regarding ground conditions but the possible emphasis on speed at the trip might just swing things in the favour of Aidan O’Brien’s horse.

Out of the high-profile trio he was the only one being considered for the QEII and if the ground had turned soft, as is usual, we might well have seen him drop back to a mile instead of taking in the 1m2f race.

Being out of a top-class miler in Tepin, he has inherited plenty of his dam’s gears as he showed at Sandown, when going from last to first in remarkable fashion to win the Coral-Eclipse, and at Leopardstown, where his striking manoeuvre to hit the front two out was the key point in the Irish Champion Stakes.

Those performances suggest the round course and the short straight might just play to his strengths and on good ground the Champion Stakes will likely be less of a grind than can be the case. That will suit Delacroix.

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