Almaqam could spoil Champion Stakes for Calandagan
A blockbuster card at Ascot is on Saturday’s agenda with six World Pool races – five of which are Group 1s – and ground conditions are expected to be much less testing than is often the case on Champions Day, the British flat season’s finale.
Calandagan (2.70 with betting sites) and Ombudsman (2.60) are two of the best middle-distance horses in the world, and some of their peak performances have been over the course and distance of tomorrow’s Group 1 Champion Stakes (1993m).
Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Calandagan landed the third of his extraordinary five successive Group 1s in this race last year with Ombudsman second, and few will be shocked if both are battling for glory again.
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Christophe Soumillon takes over as Calandagan’s rider – with Mickael Barzalona suspended – and William Buick is looking to partner Ombudsman to victory for an eighth time.
However, trainer Ed Walker, who sent out Almaqam, paying 9.00, to finish third to these elite-level achievers last year, believes the story might have a different ending this year.
Walker, who has elevated his Upper Lambourn base into one of the leading British yards, declared: “Saturday is potentially the biggest day of my career.”
“Almaqam has proved to be better in the 12 months since this day last year, winning the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup (2100m) in May and going agonisingly close in the Juddmonte International (G1, 2051m) at York in August.
“Don’t hold his performance (fourth in September’s G1 Irish Champion Stakes, 2000m) against him as the drying ground and nature of the track didn’t help him at Leopardstown. Things will be much more in his favour over the stiff track here; in fact it is tailor-made for him.”
Walker sounds equally buoyant about a big show from Ten Bob Tony, who faces 10 rivals under Kieran Shoemark in the earlier straight-course G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (1600m).
“This stiff mile is ideal as he showed when getting up in the closing stages to win Royal Ascot’s Queen Anne Stakes,” Walker said.
Ferocious opposition in what looks to be a wide-open contest includes the supplemented Talk Of New York, to be ridden by Buick, as well as three-year-old Classic winners Gstaad and Rayif. This hugely talented pair will be partnered by Ryan Moore and Soumillon, respectively.
Perhaps the biggest threat comes from Zavateri. Charles Bishop’s mount was a Group 1 winner last year and, though he took time to confirm his credentials in 2026, he made Group 1 winner Qirat look ordinary with a winning burst of acceleration in the G2 Celebration Mile Stakes (1600m) at Goodwood in August. Zavateri has been freshened up since that run for this very clear target.
“People started to doubt Zavateri but he showed at Goodwood just how good he could be. He’s tough, he loves racing and he’ll find a gap when he needs to,” Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton said.
