Taunts add spice as big three vie for Champion Stakes in thrilling Ascot finale

If you were to sit down with a blank piece of paper to design an ideal finale for the 2025 Flat season, the result would probably be a race with a striking resemblance to Saturday’s Champion Stakes at Ascot.

It will be run over a mile-and-a-quarter, an ideal test for speed and stamina, and on good ground, with three of the world’s top-10 racehorses on ratings going head-to-head. The double-figure field also includes some very live “dark” horses that could spring a surprise, and a runner apiece for Ireland, Britain and France, European racing’s leading nations, among the three main contenders. The strength and depth of the competition is so high that punters who successfully unravel the puzzle can expect at least a 180% return on their stake, in the space of a couple of minutes.

There is even a little needle to add further spice, after Aidan O’Brien, the trainer of Delacroix, suggested to a media briefing on Thursday that John Gosden, who trains Ombudsman, the favourite, “can whinge a little bit after races, whether he wins or he loses”.

His remark was a response to a suggestion by Gosden earlier in the season that he had opted against sending Ombudsman to face Delacroix in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown because his colt “would not appreciate running against multiple entries from one stable on a track with a short straight”.

Ombudsman generally races some way off the pace, and the implication seemed to be that three or four O’Brien-trained runners spread across the home straight might get in his way on the run to the line. As it turned out, O’Brien had just two runners in the Irish Champion – Delacroix, the impressive winner, and Mount Kilimanjaro, a pacemaker.

Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation, which owns Ombudsman, and the Coolmore Stud syndicate headed by John Magnier, which supplies the ammunition for O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stable in Ireland, have been fierce rivals at the highest level of international Flat racing for a quarter of a century. They have gone toe-to-toe with seven-figure bids for yearlings at the sales and seen their colours fight out finishes at the most famous tracks around the globe. Although O’Brien quickly added that his comment was meant “light-heartedly”, he will have been well aware that it would not pass unnoticed.

The two perennial rivals have the most to gain – or lose – from Saturday’s £1.4m contest, the final Group One race on the Champions Day card, and the £800k first prize is far from being their primary concern. Both would love to end the season with a 2-1 victory in the two horses’ private match-up, but the implications for their future careers as stallions are significant too.

Ombudsman seems likely to retire to stud at the end of the season, while Delacroix is all but certain to do the same. The Coolmore stallion operation lost one of its biggest names a few weeks ago when Wootton Bassett, whose covering fee was €200,000 (£174,000), died during his annual trip for the Australian breeding season.

Delacroix is a prime candidate to replace Wootton Bassett on the roster, and victory on Saturday could see him replace Ombudsman as the world’s top-rated racehorse. You can be sure that Magnier will already have one number in his head as a covering fee if Delacroix is beaten on Saturday and another, significantly larger, figure if he wins.

The Godolphin/Coolmore rivalry is just one of a tangled mass of plotlines in Saturday’s race, and it would be no surprise if the two potential six-figure stallions in the lineup were beaten by a horse with no hope at all of a stallion career. Calandagan, a four-year-old gelding, won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July, finished a half-length second in this race 12 months ago and will bid to set the seal on an astonishing season for his trainer, Francis-Henri Graffard.

Graffard is certain to finish the season as France’s champion trainer for the first time, replacing the 30-times champion André Fabre, and also claimed his first win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Europe’s showpiece event, with Daryz less than a fortnight ago.

Calandagan would have been a shorter price for the Arc than Daryz had it not been for the fact that geldings are barred, and while his two Group One wins have come at a mile-and-a-half, he has a fine burst of finishing speed.

Between them, the “big three” account for more than 80% of the betting market on Saturday’s race, but in a season that has already seen a 150-1 Group One winner, there are live runners at double-figure odds to tempt in each-way punters.

Economics, last year’s Irish Champion Stakes winner, is running for the first time since finishing sixth as the 2-1 second-favourite 12 months ago, but would have an obvious chance on his form in Ireland, while Andrew Balding’s Almeric could still be anything after three impressive wins in lesser events. And then there is Ed Walker’s Almaqam, who has lined up against Ombudsman once already this season, over a mile-and-a-quarter at Sandown, and handed him a convincing one-and-three-quarter length defeat.

As a conundrum to be solved and a spectacle to be enjoyed, there may be nothing quite like the 4.05 at Ascot on Saturday anywhere in the world. Whether you are a lifelong devotee of the turf or have only the most casual of fleeting interests, it seems sure to be worth two minutes of your time.

Pacemaker could give Ombudsman the edge

The Godolphin operation has left as little as possible to chance ahead of the Champion Stakes and the decision to spend £75,000 to add a pacemaker – Deilv’s Advocate – to the field could tip the balance in favour of John and Thady Gosden’s Ombudsman (4.05) in the feature event on the Champions Day card.

Pacemakers have been a touchy subject for punters this season, with Qirat pulling off a shock win in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and Birr Castle, another 150-1 shot, threatening to do the same for much of the way in the International Stakes three weeks later.

That made for a very odd-looking renewal of York’s 10-furlong Group One, but when William Buick and Ombudsman finally set off in pursuit of Birr Castle, they swiftly powered clear of the chasing pack and Ombudsman was three-and-a-half lengths clear of Delacroix, one of his main market rivals again today, at the line.

That appeals as stronger form than Delacroix’s last-gasp defeat of Ombudsman in the Eclipse Stakes in July, and though Calandagan, the King George winner, is a big threat to the favourite, it is also interesting that Ombudsman is less exposed than either of his most obvious rivals.

Saturday’s race will be just the ninth of Ombudsman’s career, while Calandagan has 12 starts to date and the year-younger Delacroix has 11, and started what is already a six-race three-year-old season back in March.

All three main fancies in the betting have an obvious chance at their best, but Ombudsman is the one with the most scope for improvement on his form to date and a worthy favourite at around 15-8.

12.55 The Gold Cup winner, Trawlerman, has half a stone or more in hand on the field on ratings and should win this race for the second time in three years.

1.30 A big field for a valuable two-year-old prize but little strength in depth behind Charlie Appleby’s highly promising Words Of Truth.

2.05 Lazzat, the Jubilee winner at the Royal meeting, is top on ratings but only a few pounds in front of Big Mojo, who could make the most of a good draw in stall 20.

2.45 The lightly raced Waardah is fresher than several of her rivals and does not have much to find to figure.

3.25 Fallen Angel came up with another career-best in the Sun Chariot last time and looks much too big in the betting at around 7-1.

4.40 The quirky Oliver Show has only rarely shown the application to go with his talent but Billy Loughnane got him to within a nose of the winner in the Lincoln in March and has pace to chase from his draw in stall 22. At around 25-1, he is worth an each-way interest.