QIPCO British Champions Series Update

NEXT RACE:

THE JUDDMONTE INTERNATIONAL STAKES, YORK, 3.40PM TODAY (17 AUGUST) – MIDDLE DISTANCE

• It is very much a case of the top two trainers in the QIPCO British Champions Series going head-to-head in the sixth Middle Distance race of the Series and the last before the grand finale on QIPCO British Champions Day, the £1.3 million QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday 15 October. Sir Henry Cecil saddles two runners and has five winners to date; Aidan O’Brien saddles three of the remaining four runners and has three winners to date.

• Should O’Brien match Cecil for winners by the time the Series concludes, he will take almost certainly the crown by dint of more second places as he currently has five seconds to Cecil’s one.

• Await The Dawn makes his Series and Group 1 debut, but if Midday is successful, she will join Frankel and Canford Cliffs as the only horses to win more than one Series race to date (she won the Markel Insurance Nassau Stakes in the Fillies & Mares category last month).

• All the O’Brien and Cecil runners in the Juddmonte International are also entered in the QIPCO Champion Stakes, with Await The Dawn and Roderic O’Connor also in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Midday also in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.

The Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes is 23rd race overall in the QIPCO British Champions Series and the sixth in the Middle Distance division:

1. Investec Coronation Cup (1½ miles, 4yo+), Epsom, Friday 3 June – won by ST NICHOLAS ABBEY
2. Investec Derby (1½ miles, 3yo), Epsom, Saturday 4 June – won by POUR MOI
3. Prince of Wales’s Stakes (1¼ miles, 4yo+), Royal Ascot, Wednesday 15 June – won by REWILDING
4. Coral-Eclipse Stakes (1¼ miles, 3yo+), Sandown Park, Saturday 2 July – won by SO YOU THINK
5. King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (sponsored by Betfair) (1½ miles, 3yo+), Ascot, Saturday 23 July – won by NATHANIEL
6. Juddmonte International (1¼ miles, 3yo+), York, Wednesday 17 August
7. QIPCO Champion Stakes (1¼ miles, 3yo+), Ascot, Saturday 15 October

The upcoming QIPCO British Champions Series races are:
The Darley Yorkshire Oaks (1½m, 3yo+ fillies & mares), York, Thursday 18 August (FILLIES & MARES)
The Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (5f, 2yo+), York, Friday 19 August (SPRINT)
The Weatherbys Insurance Lonsdale Cup (2m, 3yo+), York, Saturday 20 August (LONG DISTANCE)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Alistair Haggis, British Champions Series: 07761 896 500; ahaggis@britishchampionsseries.com

QIPCO British Champions Series - the world's finest Flat racing
www.britishchampionsseries.com