Watch all the Champions Day action from Ascot live on Sky Sports Racing from 1pm on Saturday, with the first race at 1.35pm and the Long Distance Cup at 2.10pm
Friday 18 October 2019 17:41, UK
Sky Sports Racing's Mick Fitzgerald delivers his verdict on the key players in Saturday's Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot.
A race that was formerly known as the Jockey Club Cup and was run in its present guise as the Long Distance Cup for the first time at Ascot in 2011.
Fame And Glory was the first winner when prospering under Jamie Spencer and trainer Aidan O'Brien landed it for a second time when Order Of St George took the prize in 2017.
Irish trainers have dominated the race, with Dermot Weld also gaining two successes with Rite Of Passage (2012) and Forgotten Rules (2014) and sandwiched between those victories Johnny Murtagh added his name to the roll of honour with Royal Diamond.
John Gosden is another to bag a brace with Flying Officer (2015) and Stradivarius (2018) and the winners board is completed by Sheikhzayedroad who was successful for David Simcock (2016).
Surprisingly, no horse has won the race twice and Stradivarius, winner of his last 10 starts, met his last defeat in this race as a three-year-old in 2017 when third, beaten a length, to Order Of St George.
Any horse that wins at the Royal meeting and comes here with good Ascot form has to be respected and this horse looked good when winning the Queen Alexandra Stakes from Palisade. He is held by Dee Ex Bee on running in France and he doesn't strike you as one who wants the ground this soft. He was second at Salisbury on heavy ground but that was off a mark of 90.
You just struggle a touch with Kew Gardens as I was there at Chester when he ran in the Ormonde Stakes and there was no doubt he would come on for the run and he got comprehensively beaten by Morando who is a confirmed mud-lover. I think you have to put that race down to him not being fit but it is his fourth run now and he has no excuses here.
After a good run when finishing second in the Coronation at Epsom it was disappointing too see him finish second in the Irish St Leger but then he was giving 12lb to a rapidly improving filly in Search For A Song, who was given a brilliant ride by Chris Hayes.
Back on this ground Kew Gardens at the prices is the horse that could take advantage of any shortcomings from Stradivarius.
If you look at his form on the face of it, he is not good enough, but you then watch that race that he won at Haydock on very bad ground and suddenly you think well he's not without a chance. This horse's two best races have been on heavy ground and that could count for a lot.
Sir Michael Stoute knows a thing or two about this game and the fact that he is willing to pitch him in here has to be taken on board.
He was second to Dee Ex Bee at Sandown earlier in the season but every time he has run on heavy ground, he has been successful. Some of them cope with heavy ground better than others and he falls into that category.
He is obviously a stablemate of Stradivarius and he looked really good when winning the November Handicap last year off a mark of 105 on soft ground. He is horse that has been kept in training as a five-year-old and if you look at his form he's won on heavy at Haydock as a three-year-old which is a plus.
He has not been over-raced this season and this will only be his third run, so he comes here much fresher than a lot of these.
You would have to ask whether he would stay the trip, but he travelled so easily in the November Handicap that he was never going to get beat at any stages and he might well enjoy stepping up to two miles.
He was disappointing behind Stradivarius at Goodwood but had previously been a good winner at the Royal meeting and has always been well-regarded by the Coolmore team. He did well to beat Constantinople in the King George V Handicap, but he has a little to find to make an impression in this race. You would be surprised if he was good enough.
This horse is a winning machine and incredibly he has won the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers bonus for a second year running with his victories in the Yorkshire Cup, Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Lonsdale Cup. He looks bombproof and it's just a matter of Gosden giving him the go ahead after walking the course on Saturday morning.
Two years ago, when this horse was a three-year-old was the last time this horse was beat and the decision to switch to the inner track on less testing going could well make life a bit easier for Stradivarius, who won this last year on soft ground.
As far as ability goes and the rest of it, he is just a winning machine. He has only won narrowly on a couple of occasions this year including when only winning a neck at Goodwood and when only winning a length in the Gold Cup, but did your ever think he was in danger of defeat?
He brings some very good handicap form to the race. Having won the Northumberland Plate very easily from Prince Of Arran he went over to Australia where he was slightly disappointing but has come back better than ever this season.
He won well at Newbury on his reappearance and his blood will be up after beating Austrian School six lengths in a listed race at Newmarket last time.
I think he is very interesting and he comes here a relatively lightly-raced horse with only three outings this season.
It's called British Champions Day for a reason and you want to see champions crowned and it's fairly safe to say that STRADIVARIUS is the champion of the stayers' division. The race is going to be run on the inner track so he will win but if they had run it on the outer track where it would be more testing it would have given the others a chance. I think Kew Gardens and Withhold can make up for the places.
