Champions Day / David Johnson / 17 October 2011 / 1

It's had its knockers but, with Ascot bathed in autumn sunshine and high-quality fields for all five pattern races, few can argue that British Champions Day was anything but a resounding success. David Johnson reflects on the results from a ratings perspective...

With nine wins from nine starts, at an average winning distance of over five lengths, Frankel has always provided the style. But even those who once maintained that he was "hyped" surely have to admit that he has, more often than not, delivered the substance as well.

In maintaining his unbeaten record in the Qipco-sponsored Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, Frankel scaled even greater heights than previously - his new rating of 143 (up from 142) is below only Sea-Bird II (145), Brigadier Gerard (144) and Tudor Minstrel (144) in Timeform history.

Behind Frankel on Saturday were the winners of this year's Moulin, Coronation Stakes, Jacques le Marois and Betfair Celebration Mile, to name just some of their successes, while Dick Turpin also came into the race on the back of a Group 1 win in Italy.

A detailed description of Timeform's approach to handicapping was given after Frankel's Guineas victory (read it here). Race standardisation points to lower than 143 for Saturday's win, but the strength of the opposition and the comprehensive beating that Frankel dished out to each and every one of them, backs up the assessment. Prior-rating standards, which are based on the master ratings of the runners going into a contest, point to a figure of precisely 143.

As has been said in this column before, running to high figures is about opportunity as well as ability, and, although Frankel has already put up some top-class efforts on the clock, the run of the race on Saturday prevented him from doing so again. Sectional times confirm the visual impression that Bullet Train was virtually ignored and the pace in the main group was on the steady side.

Although four lengths behind Frankel, Excelebration confirmed himself a top-class miler in his own right, running to a figure of 133 in beating Immortal Verse by three and a half lengths. This ties in with an upward reappraisal of Excelebration's Hungerford Stakes win, which came by a wide margin and which has been franked by victories for the third, fourth and fifth on their next starts.

British Champions Day was not just about Frankel, of course. A switch to Ascot and an increase in prize money contributed to what looked like one of the strongest Champion Stakes fields ever assembled, and the race did not disappoint.

Cirrus des Aigles ran out a worthy winner from So You Think and Snow Fairy, running to a rating of 133. Not only does the form have a very solid look, with the next five home all credited with performance figures within 1 lb of their master ratings, the race was run in course-record time and resulted in a top-class timefigure.

With the first two from the Champion Stakes likely to stay in training next year, and Frankel likely to step up in trip as a four-year-old, there is the exciting prospect of them all meeting next year.

In other races on the card, Deacon Blues confirmed that he is a Group 1 sprinter in all but name with another easy victory in the British Champions Sprint. He looked a class above throughout and was value for extra over the bare result, not having to reproduce his pre-race best of 130+.

Deacon Blues has been credited with a performance figure of 123+, with the proximity of Libranno, raised from 115 to 118, and Royal Rock, 115 to 117, two reasons why a higher view has not been taken.

The Long Distance Cup was another race in which the field failed to get sufficiently stretched - less than nine lengths covered the first seven home - to think the principals were at their very best. Fame And Glory and Opinion Poll are reckoned to have run to 118+ and 116+ respectively, 6 lb below their master ratings.

Colour Vision deserves plenty of credit for finishing third given he met interference and produced this just a week on from his excellent weight-carrying performance in the Cesarewitch. Although running to a bare rating of 117, his master rating has, because of his proximity to the first two, been upgraded to 122.

Dancing Rain showed in winning the Fillies' And Mares' race that she is not reliant on gaining an uncontested lead. There is no doubt she had the run of the race to a degree in taking The Oaks at Epsom earlier in the year, but this all-the-way win involved no loitering and deserves to be viewed in an altogether more positive light. Her new rating of 120 is her best yet by a few pounds.

Elsewhere, there were a number of European horses in action in Canada's most prestigious meeting of the year at Woodbine. They showed once more how collectively superior they are to North America's turf horses at a mile and a half by claiming the first five places in the Canadian International. The John Hammond-trained four-year-old filly Sarah Lynx posted a rating of 124 in beating the 2010 winner Joshua Tree (back to 121) by four lengths.

Bated Breath (125) was denied narrowly in a Group 1 sprint once again, not quite at his best in failing to reel in the better drawn Regally Ready (rated 122).

European raiders I'm A Dreamer (116) and Dream Peace (117) ran at least as well as previously when just touched off in the E.P Taylor Stakes by Miss Keller (116).

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1. chuck | 13 March 2012

   Such a total nonsense article. How can anybody compare this miler to those great thoroughbreds. Those are real great horses, who have won from a mile to 2 miles.

   I know where Frankel would be if he ran in the Arc de Trioumple. in the back up the track sucking wind.

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