QIPCO Champion Stakes
Group 1, Ascot 16:05
£1,300,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus,
1m 1f 212y, Class 1   
Saturday 18th October 2025

BetPlay

The £1.3 million QIPCO Champion Stakes has all the ingredients to be one of the races of the year — a true heavyweight clash at ten furlongs, with the world’s top-rated horse Ombudsman spearheading a field of 15 confirmations.

The Godolphin-owned four-year-old has been the benchmark for excellence this season, and his ongoing rivalry with Coolmore’s Delacroix — the Aidan O’Brien-trained three-year-old — looks set for a dramatic Ascot decider. The score between the pair stands at 1-1, and with both now confirmed, Saturday’s contest promises to be the definitive chapter in their enthralling duel.

Adding further depth to a glittering line-up is Calandagan, winner of this year’s Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and runner-up in this very race twelve months ago. He returns aiming to go one better — and with Ombudsman and Delacroix in opposition, it means three of the world’s top eight turf performers, as rated by the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, will line up in a single contest.

Also back for another tilt is Economics, who hasn’t been sighted since finishing a close-up sixth in last year’s renewal but has always hinted there’s more to come.

Two have been supplemented to complete the cast: Devil’s Advocate, representing Godolphin and the Gosdens, set to act as pacemaker for Ombudsman, and First Look, the Andre Fabre-trained four-year-old who arrives in fine form after landing the Group 2 Prix Dollar at the Arc meeting.

It’s a race that needs little selling — the QIPCO Champion Stakes once again living up to its billing as the ultimate end-of-season showdown.

Qipco Champion Stakes
(British Champions Middle Distance) (Group 1)
£1,300,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 1m 1f 212y, Class 1
15 remaining entries
Going: Good, Good to Soft in places

NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY
1 2-3123 Almaqam 4 9-7 Ed Walker
2 2-2211 Calandagan 4 9-7 F-H Graffard Mickael Barzalona
3 11116- Economics 4 9-7 William Haggas Tom Marquand
4 -23111 First Look 4 9-7 A Fabre
5 4-1611 Fox Legacy 4 9-7 Andrew Balding P J McDonald
6 115440 Los Angeles 4 9-7 A P O'Brien
7 1-2121 Ombudsman 4 9-7 John & Thady Gosden William Buick
8 -54554 Prague 5 9-7 Dylan Cunha
9 41-11 Almeric 3 9-3 Andrew Balding Oisin Murphy
10 119121 Delacroix 3 9-3 A P O'Brien
11 -64041 Devil's Advocate 3 9-3 John & Thady Gosden
12 2-3168 Mount Kilimanjaro 3 9-3 A P O'Brien
13 1-1001 Pride Of Arras 3 9-3 Ralph Beckett
14 12-177 Swagman 3 9-3 A P O'Brien
15 -60303 The Lion In Winter 3 9-3 A P O'Brien