Champions Day – and Balding v O’Brien – can give Flat season a fitting finale

The Ascot head-to-head battle for the trainers’ title adds spice to a fascinating day of racing on Saturday With five Group Ones, a £250,000 juvenile race and a decent racing surface (if the weather forecast is correct), the schedule for Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday looks l

The Ascot head-to-head battle for the trainers’ title adds spice to a fascinating day of racing on Saturday With five Group Ones, a £250,000 juvenile race and a decent racing surface (if the weather forecast is correct), the schedule for Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday looks like the fitting finale to the British Flat season that its architects envisaged 15 years ago. Add in the bonus of a live contest for the UK Flat trainers’ championship and this is a card that promises twists and turns from the first race to the last. Less than a month ago, Andrew Balding was a double-figure price to win the title for the first time, while Aidan O’Brien was effectively “no offers” to win for the third year running, and ninth time in all.

He starts the week as a 6-4 shot with Paddy Power, while O’Brien is 1-2 – and it is a measure of the extent to which the two trainers have dominated the campaign that even before Champions Day, both have already surpassed John Gosden’s record prize-money total of £8.52m in 2017. Continue reading...