HRI’s pre-Irish Champions Stakes banner line promoted the meeting as, It All Comes Down To This.

It might have been a bit lower key then, but that line fits perfectly across today’s British Champions’ day where the majority of the best horses of flat season will appear and two of the best, Ombudsman and Delacroix, meet for the third time with one win shared between them. Thankfully, unlike next month’s Breeders’ Cup, it all builds up to the big race near the end of the card. The Decider it is!

Of the European-based horses, Ombudsman (128) currently sits atop the World Racehorse Rankings, ahead of Arc winner Daryz (127) and Field Of Gold (127) and then Delacroix (126). Calandagan is on 125.

It is a mighty occasion to have three of the four top-rated horses on the one card. Conditions look perfect too, so what becomes of Ombudsman v Delacroix round three?

Both the Eclipse and the Juddmonte left questions. No pacemaker at Sandown, did Ombudsman go too soon on a stiffer track than Royal Ascot where a strong pace saw him produce a good turn of foot to win the Prince of Wales’s Stakes?

Did the presence of the runaway pacemaker in the Juddmonte catch Ryan Moore out on Delacroix, on a flatter track than Sandown, and Ombudsman got first run this time?

Easier to win

Delacroix then impressed in the Irish Champions Stakes at Leopardstown but perhaps that race was a little easier to win, you would expect the top three-year-old to beat Royal Champion by three lengths.

The surprising thing is, that a look at the Champions Stakes roll of honour reveals that the sole Aidan O’Brien-trained winner of the race is the four-year-old filly Magical six years ago (2019).

And you have to go back to Minding in 2016 to find the last Aidan O’Brien winner of the QEII. No Ballydoyle three-year-old colts shone here in a long time. Yes, the going is often soft and City Of Troy and Auguste Rodin were sent for the Breeders’ Cup, but Paddington was a beaten favourite two years ago and Magna Grecia was also down the field a few years previously. Magical was also a beaten favourite for the Champions Stakes in 2020. The decision to go into this hot contest is brave.

Both camps run a pacemaker to ensure a true test. It’s been a topic of the flat season and many, including commentator Simon Holt, do not see this as something that should be allowed. It has the potential to be tricky, if in the short Ascot straight a pacemaker is drifting back along the rail.

And is there a joker in the ring behind the big two?

Worked out perfectly

It has been some year for Francis-Henri Graffard. His plans with Daryz worked out perfectly culminating in an Arc win.

This has been Calandagan’s target since the King George. He was a bit unlucky here last year, ridden by Stephane Pasquier and not getting a clear run up the rail in the straight and when he did get to the front, he was run down and beaten half a length by 40/1 shot Anmaat.

He may have taken almost all of 12 furlongs to get to the front past Kalpana in the King George, but his second to City Of Troy, in a record time in the Juddmonte last year, shows he is not a slow horse. There, on good to firm ground, he ran the last four furlongs faster than City Of Troy.

Then, if we think this is a horse duel, it is also a tactical jockey duel. Who strikes first, who lands the final perfect punch, Buick, Soumillon or Barzalona? Ombudsman will have to move forward from stall nine. He broke well but was taken back and then moved up again early in the Eclipse.

How will this race play? Delacroix was briefly on the back foot in the Eclipse before producing his grandstand last half furlong. He was caught out at York. Soumillon then moved earlier at Leopardstown. You feel he might be the first to commit? Buick should be in position to cover that move.

Barzalona has had some criticism this year, but he got the Arc perfect. He has also won this race on Sealiway in 2021.

I think Ombudsman is a better horse than Delacroix, but Calandagan is the joker in the ring. If Barzalona has learned from riding the track this season, it could be ‘he who laughs last, laughs longest’ again.

Rest of the card

On the rest of the tip-top card, I can’t see Stay True having the stamina to beat Trawlerman in the Long Distance Cup, the Sprint will probably see another different Group 1 winner, for all that, back at the track he won in the summer, Lazzat should be in the firing line. Big Mojo is drawn very wide on the stands’ side. Andrew Balding attempts to claw back Aidan O’Brien’s advantage in the British trainers’ title, his Flora Of Bermuda is on the other wing. She didn’t get the clearest of runs in the Haydock Sprint and looks the each-way value.

Seven of the last eight winners of the Fillies and Mares have been three-year-olds. Bedtime Story has been disappointing of the O’Brien three-year-old fillies but on her Prix de Diane run she could be some value in a race where it’s a big test for Estrange. But Wemightakedlongway’s Irish Oaks run against Minnie Hauk looks even better and she looks good each-way value at 10s.

Field Of Gold should win the QEII but Rosallion might be a tougher opponent than the odds suggest. Never So Brave could have the improvement and Carl Spackler was only beaten three lengths in the Queen Anne Stakes thojugh he was 40s earlier in the week and is a bit short now.

THE second series of Champions: Full Gallop ITV racing series begins this weekend with the VirginOne broadcast at a pretty decent time.,6pm this evening just after the Ascot coverage ends, a much better than then 10.45 slot on ITV Fridays.

Series two is supposed to be an improved version, more action, less presenter talk, but from the clips seen, (not sure what Lizzie Kelly found INSANE!) you hope it’s not gone overboard on elements of the season that did not really engage with the racing public, like the David Power Jockeys’ Cup, which while welcome and an addition to the season by the programme’s backers, added little to the jumps season.

Darran Pearce@DarranPearce

Keith Donoghue has won jumps ride of the season already in my opinion as not sure we will see a better ride than the one on Stumptown to win the Velka

Martin@quevega

Stumptown is the biggest racing story if the year, some achievement for connections.

El_Merv@GriffinClubMerv

Congratulations on a well deserved retirement to Thorpedo Anna and thanks to @KennyMcPeek for setting a new standard of openness and excellence in the racing industry.