Baaeed Heads For Britain’s Richest Raceday

The winners of 100 Group 1s are among the entries for what is set to be a mouthwatering 12th edition of QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday 15^th October, which this year offers prize money of £4.1 million.

Baaeed – unbeaten in 9 starts

The cast of entries for the richest raceday in Great Britain features the top horse in the latest Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings in Baaeed.

The William Haggas-trained colt is entered for both the QIPCO Champion Stakes, the richest mile and a quarter race in Europe, with a value of £1.3 million and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO), which he won last year and is the richest mile race in Europe (£1.1 million).

On what is set to be the 10th anniversary of QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Famer Frankel’s final racecourse appearance in the QIPCO Champion Stakes, his progeny are represented by the likes of Adayar, Alpinista, Homeless Songs, Inspiral and Nashwa.

Other potential runners include winners at last year’s QIPCO British Champions Day in Trueshan (QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup), Creative Force (QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes), Eshaada (QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes) Sealiway (QIPCO Champion Stakes) and Aldaary (Balmoral Handicap winner last year and entered for Queen Elizabeth II Stakes), meaning all six winners from last year’s QIPCO British Champions Day could return this year.

The three remaining pattern races on the card each offer a prize fund of £500,000, meaning prize money for this year’s QIPCO British Champions Day will total £4.1 million, cementing its position as the richest raceday in the British calendar and the only day to feature four Group 1 prizes.

Champion trainer Charlie Appleby, whose entries include 2021 Cazoo Derby winner Adayar, last year’s top two-year-old Native Trail and QIPCO 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes winner Coroebus, said: “It’s a big day for us. It’s the nearest thing we’ve got to the Breeders’ Cup and from an English point of view it’s where you want to take each other on at the end of the season. Those who are crowned champion at Ascot deserve it.”

Baaeed’s rider Jim Crowley enjoyed one of the best days of his career last October, when his win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO) was sandwiched between a second win in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes on Eshaada and a Balmoral Handicap success on Aldaary.

Crowley, who received his champion jockey trophy on the same day in 2016, said: “QIPCO British Champions Day is an unbelievable event, with fantastic racing and awesome prize money. It’s a great way to end the season and a meeting I’ve been lucky at, so I’m really looking forward to it again.”

He added: “My win on Madame Chiang back in 2014 came at an important time for me but I didn’t ride another winner there until last year, when I’d have been delighted to have won just one race. To have three winners – and it could have been four – was just fantastic.

“If I have half as good a day again I’ll be laughing, and if Baaeed were to finish there unbeaten in whichever race he goes for, it would be perfect. But we have to get York out of the way first.”