Queen Elizabeth II Stakes
(sponsored by QIPCO)
Group 1, Ascot 15:25
£1,100,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus,
1m, Class 1   
Saturday 18th October 2025

BetPlay

John and Thady Gosden’s Field Of Gold lit up the summer when storming to victory in both the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. But his sparkling sequence was halted at Goodwood in late July, where a rare off-day in the Sussex Stakes was compounded by lameness on his return.

Given time to regroup, the son of Kingman is back in full swing, and the mood in the Juddmonte camp is one of cautious optimism as Champions Day approaches—so long as the heavens don’t intervene.

Barry Mahon, racing manager for Juddmonte, reflected: “He’s on track for Ascot. We obviously had to give him a break after Goodwood, which wasn’t our intention but we had to give him a break because he was lame.

“I think he’s due to start faster work towards the weekend or early next week. I don’t know if we want heavy ground, so that will be a hurdle we’ll have to jump nearer the time when we see what the ground conditions are, but we’re very much on track and looking forward to seeing him back.”

Prix Rothschild winner Fallen Angel stands her ground and Harry Eustace has made no secret of the fact that it’s all roads leading back to QIPCO British Champions Day for his Ascot aficionado, Docklands.

The surprise package of this year’s Queen Anne—who mugged Rosallion on the line in June—has always saved his best for the Berkshire stage. Goodwood, by contrast, proved a rather forgettable detour, but with a potential French foray on the horizon, it’s very much a case of peaking at precisely the right time for a crack at this.

“Ascot just brings out the best in him—it always has,” said Eustace. “So the plan’s been pretty straightforward: build everything around Champions Day.

“He had his spin at Goodwood, we might dip our toe in across the Channel next, and then it’ll be a case of freshening him up and getting him back to his favourite playground.”

Eustace isn’t a stranger to Champions Day—Docklands ran in the Balmoral a couple of years back—but this time the ambitions feel a little loftier.

“To have a couple of live chances going into a meeting of that calibre—it’s what you hope for when you start the season,” he added.

Jerome Reynier’s Facteur Cheval, the globetrotting six-year-old, knows his way around a British Champions Day assignment.

Twice before he has lined up for this, twice before he has had to play second fiddle — first to Big Rock in 2023, then twelve months later to Roger Varian’s Charyn. Close, but not close enough.

His most recent sighting came in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. Since then, he has been kept fresh, a deliberate move with one day in mind: October 18, and a third crack at the QEII. Connections see that freshness not as a gamble, but an edge.

“We’re going to wait for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes again and he’s placed in it a few times and always runs well in it, so we’re looking forward to it,” said Barry Irwin, CEO of Team Valor International, who co-own the horse with Gary Barber.

“Jerome had to send him off for a month R and R after his run at Royal Ascot as he lost some weight and didn’t look as well as he should. He’s got him back and he looks fine but he’s been unable to do enough with him to race in the Prix du Moulin this weekend, so Ascot is the plan.

“I hope he can run well again at Ascot, he likes the course and it will all depend how the ground comes up. He does want some cut in the ground and if it’s a bog he can handle that too and as long as it’s not really firm I think he can do it.

“He does run well fresh and has shown that before.”

BoyleSports

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes
Sponsored By Qipco (British Champions Mile) (Group 1) (Str)
£1,100,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 1
27 remaining entries
Going:

NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY (form as of Sep 30)
1 16-166 Carl Spackler 5 9-6 John & Thady Gosden
2 943639 Checkandchallenge 2 6 9-6 William Knight
3 -36221 Cicero's Gift 5 9-6 Charles Hills
4 112839 Dancing Gemini 4 4 9-6 Roger Teal
5 11-911 Diego Velazquez 4 9-6 A P O'Brien
6 -23154 Docklands 6 5 9-6 Harry Eustace
7 2-3766 Facteur Cheval 6 9-6 J Reynier
8 -11211 More Thunder 4 9-6 William Haggas
9 0-2111 Never So Brave 4 9-6 Andrew Balding
10 5-1016 Quddwah 5 9-6 Simon & Ed Crisford
11 -32242 Rosallion 4 9-6 Richard Hannon
12 21-382 Volterra 4 9-6 Kevin Ryan
13 -11175 Zabiari 4 4 9-6 F-H Graffard
14 -13221 Alakazi 3 9-3 J P Murtagh
15 119121 Delacroix 3 9-3 A P O'Brien
16 12-996 Expanded 3 9-3 A P O'Brien
17 4-6311 Fallen Angel 4 9-3 K R Burke
18 -12114 Field Of Gold 3 9-3 John & Thady Gosden
19 -11235 Henri Matisse 3 9-3 A P O'Brien
20 1-3544 Hotazhell 3 9-3 Mrs John Harrington
21 1-5113 Sallaal 3 9-3 Roger Varian
22 113-27 Tamfana 4 9-3 David Menuisier
23 -60303 The Lion In Winter 3 9-3 A P O'Brien
24 2-4424 Cathedral 3 9-0 2 Kevin Philippart De Foy
25 246562 Exactly 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
26 -83227 January 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
27 612116 Whirl 3 9-0 A P O'Brien