New champion stallion to be crowned

All eyes this week have been on the jockeys’ championship as William Buick eroded the lead established by defending champion Oisin Murphy as the pair clash before Saturday’s final day. But with £ 4million in prizes up for grabs, Ascot’s Champions Day match is also likely to confirm the identity of a new champion stallion in Britain and Ireland.

In the ten years of Champions Day at Ascot, there was never much doubt about the direction the title would take. Galileo has been a champion every year in the Champions Day era, the only fluctuations in his record being the degree to which he dominated his fellow stallions during that time. Galileo only once had less than £ 2million to lose on the finalist (in 2015, and even then he was only slightly less ahead of finalist Dubawi). On other occasions, Galileo has earned his title with colossal annual earnings – eight-figure sums – in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

His total prize in 2017 and 2019 was over £ 11.9million and in the first of those years he finished more than £ 8million ahead of runner-up Dark Angel.

More often than not over the past decade, wins in major races on Champions Day have contributed to Galileo’s annual prize total. Frankel got things going for him with a phenomenal performance in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on that inaugural Champions Day at Ascot in 2011 before returning twelve months later for the 14th and final victory of his unbeaten Champion Stakes career. Frankel’s brother, Noble Mission, gave Galileo another Champion Stakes winner two years later.

Since then, Galileo’s success for Champions Day has been provided by Ballydoyle. Minding earned him another QEII in 2016, while a year later Hydrangea won the Fillies & Mares Stakes and the Order of St George Long Distance Cup. Magical was another Fillies & Mares Stakes winner in 2018 before becoming the final Galileo Champion Stakes winner twelve months later, giving Galileo another brace on Champions Day after Kew Gardens became another Cup winner. long distance.

End of an era

But now Galileo’s long reign seems to have come to an end. The fact that he passed away earlier this year at the age of 23 is just a coincidence when it comes to his track fortune this year. For whatever reason, it often happens that stallions actually experience some of their greatest success posthumously. The eternal Japanese champion stallion Deep Impact – portrayed by Snowfall in Saturday’s Fillies & Mares Stakes – appears to be on his way to another title in the Far East two years after his own death.

It’s ironic that Frankel, who helped Galileo win some of those previous championships, is now the one who is ready to take his crown away from him. It was a dramatic change in fortunes for father and son compared to just twelve months ago, when Frankel was only 12th on the silver prize table behind Galileo who had won about four and a half times over. ‘money. This season, however, Frankel enters Champions Day with what appears to be an unassailable lead of just under £ 1.3million.

Galileo has only had two Group 1 winners in Great Britain and Ireland this year, Minding’s sister, Empress Josephine in the Irish 1000 Guineas and Love in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. Neither filly will represent their sire at Ascot on Saturday, with Love having to miss a scheduled Fillies & Mares Stakes race after unsatisfactory blood results.

Long live the king…

Frankel, on the other hand, has had a terrific season, with a lot more individual winners (81) this year compared to last year, and certainly a lot more than Galileo (54). Foremost among Frankel’s riders this season have been classic winners Godolphin Adayar and Hurricane Lane, both of whom dealt big blows for their father’s championship bid this summer.

Hurricane Lane’s dramatic surge to win the Irish Derby not only made his father € 570,000 all at once, but also took that prize under the nose of Galileo whose son Lone Eagle had the look like he made a winning move by pulling away in the straight line.

Lone Eagle then traveled to Ascot for the King George where he and 13/8 favorite Love after his Royal Ascot win appeared to give Galileo two big chances to land the prize of just under 500,000 £ for the winner. Once again, however, this was a result that went in Frankel’s favor when Adayar became the first Derby winner since Galileo 20 years earlier to win the King George.

The odds were therefore already very favorable for Frankel by the time Hurricane Lane clinched the top prize of £ 421,355 in the St Leger, with the best of Galileo’s three foals in third place.

The day of the derby, the moment the power changed

Looking back, however, it was as early as Epsom in June that the writing was on the wall for Galileo’s handover of power from Galileo to Frankel.

In the absence of the longtime favorite high definition of Ballydoyle, a very rare Galileo who has failed to build on the two-to-three-year promise (far behind Hurricane Lane in the St Leger), his Stablemate Bolshoi Ballet, another son of Galileo, started as favorite for the Derby. But he was only able to finish seventh as Adayar recorded a first Derby success for Frankel who also had Hurricane Lane in third.

The Bolshoi Ballet won a derby – across the Atlantic at Belmont – the next time around, the day Galileo’s death was announced, in fact, but it has to do everything to turn the tide on Adayar as they meet in the Champion Stakes on Saturday. It earns a prize of £ 714,546 for the winner, so even the best of times when it comes to Galileo, that the Bolshoi Ballet would win and Adayar would end up taking out the money would only manage to cut the money by about half. Frankel’s advance.

Frankel and Galileo also go head-to-head earlier on the Long Distance Cup map, although the cash in place may be the best Frankel’s Master of Reality runner or Galileo pair Roberto Escobarr and The Mediterranean could hope for. against star stayers Trueshan and Stradivarius.

Adayar has to bounce back from a tough race in the Arc just two weeks ago to win the Champion Stakes, but Frankel has already made his mark in this contest as a father, in addition to winning it himself.

Cracksman, in his first crop, had finished third in the Derby earlier in the season, but he ended his three-year campaign with a searing seven-length victory in the Champion Stakes and was almost as impressive at the end of his career. . with a success of six lengths in the same race twelve months later.

Race times and final fields of the day of British champions QIPCO

More sports life

Safer play

We are committed to supporting safer play. Recommended bets are recommended for those over 18 and we strongly encourage readers to bet only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare activated 0808 8020 133.

You can find more information and help at begambleaware.org and jeuthérapie.org.