Falcon
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 2010-Oct-15, 06:11 PM
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Ascot to stage British Champions’ Day of racing in 2011
Posted: Friday, September 24, 2010 7:08 PM
Next fall Ascot Racecourse will stage Great Britain’s richest day of racing ever, one which British racing officials hope will develop into a season-ending event along the lines of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) day.
Scheduled for October 15, two weeks after the Arc, British Champions’ Day will feature six races and offer a record combined total in purses of approximately $4,714,510 (3-million British pounds).
The card will be the finale of a new championship series worth approximately $20,429,554 (13-million British pounds) as Newmarket’s Champions Day shifts to Ascot, which will celebrate its 300th anniversary in 2011.
The card will be anchored by the Champion Stakes (Eng-G1), a 1¼-mile event for three-year-olds and older, to be held this year on October 16 at Newmarket, and Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Eng-G1) for fillies and mares going one mile, which runs on Saturday.
Ascot and Newmarket agreed to relocate some races as part of the championship series, which is intended to raise racing’s profile. The series, which begins next spring, encompasses seven races each in five categories: sprint, mile, middle distance, fillies and mares, and long distance.
The series will encompass British racing’s most prominent race days, including the Guineas Festival at Newmarket, the Epsom Derby (Eng-G1), Royal Ascot, the Newmarket July Festival, Glorious Goodwood, the Ebor Festival at York, and Doncaster’s St. Leger (Eng-G1), BBC Sport reported.
The series begins April 30 with the Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) and ends with British Champions’ Day.
Among those applauding the creation of a championship day of racing in Britain was Godolphin jockey Frankie Dettori.
“Our racing is the best in the world and Ascot is a world-class venue at any level, so it is fantastic that the industry is doing everything to help itself at this time,” Dettori told BBC Sport.
Karl Oliver, senior chief executive of the British Champion Series, told BBC Sport that British racing needed a major new platform in order to better compete for the public’s attention.
“Britain's richest ever day of racing is the opportunity to attract the very best British and overseas horses to compete at our top international racecourse. It will be the autumn climax British racing needs.
"By also introducing a series framework, we can highlight and use the best races throughout the flat season to engage a much wider audience to our sport."
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