By Tom Frary
Saturday's G1 Qipco Champion Stakes will feature all the big guns, with Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), Delacroix (Dubawi), Calandagan (Gleneagles) and Economics (Night Of Thunder) set for a memorable showdown. There will be 11 in the line-up for the feature, where the draw has not been kind to Ombudsman and Economics in nine and 10 respectively but has been to the race's most intriguing runner Almaqam (Lope De Vega) in stall one.
There will be 16 lining up for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, with Juddmonte and the Gosdens' mile category leader Field Of Gold (Kingman) starting from stall 14 of 16. Also on the wing is Rosallion (Blue Point) in 15 and Never So Brave (No Nay Never) in 13, while Wathnan's flagbearer Fallen Angel (Too Darn Hot) is in the middle in eight.
Kalpana (Study Of Man) will face nine rivals as she bids for back-to-back renewals of the G1 Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, including Cheveley Park's Estrange (Night Of Thunder), while the G1 Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes has attracted a field of 20. Wathnan Racing have Lazzat (Territories) and last year's winner Kind Of Blue (Blue Point), while other Group 1 winners include No Half Measures (Cable Bay) and Big Mojo (Mohaather) with the latter widest in stall 20.
As expected, opposition to the chief stayer Trawlerman (Golden Horn) is thin on the ground in the opening G1 Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, where the five runners feature Ballydoyle's St Leger third Stay True (Galileo) and the favourite's popular stablemate Sweet William (Sea The Stars).
For the first time, Qipco Champions Day has a juvenile race and the £250,000 Qipco British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes boasts Godolphin's Mill Reef winner Words Of Truth (Lope De Vega) and Wathnan's promising Division (Kingman).
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