QIPCO British Champions Day | Horse Racing Free Tips

Palace Pier Wins Second Jacques Le Marois At Deauville, BC Mile Berth

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum's Palace Pier (GB) became the first horse to win the Group 1 Prix Du Haras De Fresnay-Le-Buffard Jacques le Marois in successive years since Spinning World in 1997. The win gave him his second “Win and You're In” Breeders' Cup Challenge Series of 2021, having won the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June. The son of Kingman (GB) has an automatic starting position and fees paid into this year's $2 million Grade 1 FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile presented by PDJF through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 84 stakes races where the winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 5-6.

Palace Pier, trained by John & Thady Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori, traveled up on the outside of the field and showed a sparkling turn of foot to go clear of his seven rivals before having to withstand a strong challenge from Group 1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas hero Poetic Flare (IRE) in the final furlong to hold on by a neck. The defending Grade 1 FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile champion, Order of Australia (IRE), was a further 1 ¾ lengths back in third.

After completing the mile in 1:35.96 over a course listed as good, Palace Pier was cut to 7/4 with Unibet for the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile in November.

John Gosden speaking after the race, said: “I thought it was a very clean race. They went a sensible pace. They quickened from 600 meters out and so it was a test of speed and he's done it well. He's a gorgeous and lovely horse to be around. He's got this amazing cruising speed and acceleration. I've made no secret that he was ill. He had a blood disorder and missed the G1 Qatar Sussex Stakes and we've come here on the absolute minimum amount of work. He's probably come here at 80% and as Frankie (Dettori) said, his class has got him through. He's having a strong blow after, so he was probably 10 days short of work, but they weren't going to move the Jacques Le Marois!”

Gosden indicated that QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot in October could be next for the five-time Group 1 winner.

“We'll now wait until Champions Day and go either for the 1-mile Group 1 QIPCO Queen Elizabeth II Stakes or perhaps the 1 ¼ mile Group 1 QIPCO Champion Stakes.”

When asked if the Breeders' Cup could be on the agenda for the son of Kingman (GB), Gosden replied: “November is a long way off! Del Mar is a track I'm very fond of and I had a lot of success there and have a lot of good friends there, but that's a long way down the road at the moment.”

Palace Pier was already a winner of the “Win and You're In” G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and is one of seven horses this year to have gained a “Win and You're In” berth for the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile. Jet Dark (SAF), winner of the Group 1 L'Ormarins Queen's Plate in South Africa, Succeso (CHI) who claimed the Group 1 Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella in Chile, Smooth Like Strait who won the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile, Danon Kingly (JPN) who captured the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen in Japan, Alcohol Free (IRE) who stormed clear in the Group 1 Qatar Sussex Stakes, and Got Stormy who yesterday won the Grade 1 Fourstardave, are the other six.

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for Palace Pier to start in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile, which will be run at a mile on the Del Mar turf course. Breeders' Cup will also provide a travel allowance of $40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships. The Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of Oct. 25 to receive the rewards.

The post Palace Pier Wins Second Jacques Le Marois At Deauville, BC Mile Berth appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Prize Money Boosted For QIPCO British Champions Day

The prize money for the 2021 QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Oct. 16 will be raised to £4 million, QIPCO announced on Tuesday.

This is a 60% increase on 2020 levels that were reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The G1 QIPCO Champion S. will be worth £1.2 million, while the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. boasts prize money of £1.1 million. The G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares, G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint and the G2 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup will each offer prize money of £500,000. The Balmoral H. sponsored by QIPCO sees its purse doubled to £200,000.

Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Thani, director of QIPCO Holding said, “We are proud to sponsor QIPCO British Champions Day, the most valuable day in the British racing calendar and are pleased that this year's raceday, which marks the 10th anniversary of our sponsorship, will be run for £4 million. The day has established itself at the pinnacle of the global racing calendar and it is only fitting that the prize money reflect that.”

Added Rod Street, Chief Executive of British Champions Series Ltd., “We are absolutely delighted to have restored prize-money on QIPCO British Champions Day to £4m.

“It is crucial to the long-term future of British racing that we are able to offer globally competitive prize-money and are hugely grateful to our sponsors, Qipco, for making this a reality and for their continued support and commitment.

“Champions Day has always attracted the world's finest racehorses and with such a valuable racecard, we look forward to welcoming the sport's superstars back to Ascot once more on October 16.”

The post Prize Money Boosted For QIPCO British Champions Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame Announced

The QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame, the first official Hall of Fame for British Flat racing honouring the champions of the sport, will be unveiled on Monday, Apr. 26, QIPCO announced on Wednesday.

Marking the 10th year QIPCO has sponsored the British Champions Series which started in 2011, the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame will immortalise the modern greats of British Flat racing-both human and equine-from 1970 onward. (Click here to view a highlights reel of modern greats). New members of the Hall of Fame will be inducted twice annually during the Flat season-ahead of the QIPCO Guineas Festival at Newmarket in May and in October in advance of the QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot. The Hall of Fame will exist online, and, in addition to featuring a range of expertly-curated written, pictorial and video content that pay tribute to Hall of Famers, as well as figures of historical importance, will tell racing's story from its beginning in the 17th century to modern day.

Visitors to the site will be able to register their details to receive updates as more Hall of fame content is added, including the inaugural Hall of Fame class prior to the start of the QIPCO Guineas Festival. The site will be updated throughout the summer and fall chronicling some of racing's most important moments and influential figures from the 17th-20th centuries. Visit www.Horseracinghof.com to register.

Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Thani, Director of QIPCO Holding, said, “My Brothers and I are passionate about British flat racing and its rich history and heritage which makes it the envy of other racing jurisdictions the world over. We are delighted to announce the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame, which will honour the tremendous contributions made to British flat racing and will celebrate our most significant and important stars and their achievements.

“When I first got involved in British racing, I was captivated by racing's rich history and I hope that the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame will engage and excite existing and new fans by shining a light on the sport's most important figures.”

Rod Street, Chief Executive Officer of QIPCO British Champions Series, added, “British Champions Series, which showcases the finest flat racing, is the perfect home for a Hall of Fame. Over the past decade, QIPCO have been dedicated and committed partners of British Racing and our thanks go to them for their support of the QIPCO British Champions Hall of Fame and for helping to make this a reality. Our racing is the best in the world and we are delighted to be able to honour our greats through this exciting new initiative.”

Each Hall of Fame class will be selected from a quartet of categories-horses, jockeys, trainer and major contributors consisting of owners, breeders and other leading figures. Although the total number of inductees per year will remain flexible, at least one horse, jockey and trainer will join the Hall of Fame annually.

The following independent panel of horseracing experts will select the Hall of Fame members for the 2021/2022 classes:

Martin Mitchell, Former Tattersalls Bloodstock Director
Emma Berry, European Editor, Thoroughbred Daily News
Brough Scott, Racing Broadcaster and Journalist
Jamie Lynch, Racing Broadcaster and Journalist
James Delahooke, International Bloodstock Agent
Lydia Hislop, Racing Broadcaster and Journalist
Alan Byrne, Editor-in-Chief, Racing Post
Ruth Quinn, Racing Director, BHA

There will also be an annual shortlist of horses to be put to the public vote, with the winning horse also joining the Hall of Fame in October each year. Inductees will be honoured with a prestigious medal designed by Asprey to mark their achievement.

Panel member Brough Scott said,”I am really thrilled and honoured to have been asked to be part of the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame Judging Panel. Most of all because I have long believed in the idea and am really grateful for QIPCO and the British Champions Series to have brought it about. Being inducted into the Hall of Fame will be a true accolade at the pinnacle of the sport and I look forward to the panel's discussions on who is to be honoured in this way.”

The post QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame Announced appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

QEII Glory For Dubawi’s The Revenant

On a day when only the fittest survived, the suitably dramatically-titled The Revenant (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) as expected made light of Ascot’s very testing ground to take the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. for France. Like the G1 QIPCO Champion S. hero Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) runner-up in his respective race 12 months ago, Al Asayl France’s chestnut had a proven love of these conditions in his armoury as well as freshness having only re-appeared this season a fortnight previously when winning the G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein at ParisLongchamp. Sent off the 5-1 second favourite to go one better than in 2019, he was always in his comfort zone tracking the moderate early pace set by the 28-1 shot Roseman (Ire) (Kingman {GB}). Tackling that outsider inside the final two furlongs, he had edged ahead a furlong from home and answered Pierre-Charles Boudot’s every call to gain a head verdict, with 3 1/4 lengths back to the 8-11 favourite Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in third. “Today I was very confident and he did it well on the track,” commented France’s revelation ‘PCB’. “He was very relaxed and when I asked him he gave me a nice, long turn of foot and was courageous. He’s a super-tough horse.”

This was the one race on the card that played host to a potential superstar in the unbeaten Palace Pier and although he performed with credit on going that played against him, he was another in a line of John Gosden stars who failed to show their true colours in specialist ground. He made his move down the outer from rear under Dettori to threaten The Revenant, but was unable to keep tabs on the 5-year-old who had only the leader Roseman to worry about late on. Nothing got into contention from behind and it was ultimately left to The Revenant to make it a clean sweep for geldings in the day’s feature races open to them.

Trainer Francis Henri Graffard, whose 2020 has been highly profitable thanks to this stable stalwart, the filly Watch Me (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}), sprinter Wooded (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and 3-year-old middle-distance performer In Swoop (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}), deserves all the credit available in nurturing the former Hugo Palmer trainee as Haggas has with Addeybb. Three-from-four as a 3-year-old, he was gelded and returned to reward that decision by annexing Saint-Cloud’s Listed Prix Altipan and G3 Prix Edmond Blanc last Spring. Brought here after subsequent wins in the G2 Badener Meile and last year’s renewal of the Daniel Wildenstein, he found only King of Change (GB) (Farhh {GB}) too strong here and his subsequent absence until Arc Saturday was due to COVID-19 wiping out the early part of the calendar.

“I had him ready to run in the Spring, but when lockdown came I decided to send him out to grass and he had a good spell,” Graffard explained. “I had to wait until the Daniel Wildenstein for his comeback and he was only 80 per-cent fit for that race. I was a little bit stressed that I had to work him quite hard in the run-up, but everything was building to today. It all worked out because he is a very good horse with a lot of heart. It went exactly as we had planned, with him settled close to the pace.”

Gosden said of Palace Pier, “He pulled off a shoe leaving the gate. He was trying to run the whole race with one shoe off and Frankie said he was not able to change leads and the horse wasn’t able to handle the ground.”

The Revenant is the second foal out of Hazel Lavery (Ire) (Excellent Art {GB}), whose career sign-off came with a defeat of the eventual G1 Champion S. hero Noble Mission (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) on heavy ground in the G3 St Simon S. A half-sister to the Listed Premio Terme di Merano winner and G3 St Leger Italiano and G3 Give Thanks S. runner-up Leo Gali (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), she is a granddaughter of Rapid Repeat (Ire) (Exactly Sharp) who is kin to the G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial S.-winning sire Artema (Ire) (Common Grounds {GB}) and the stakes winner Hello Soso (Ire) (Alzao) who was also third in the GII Diana H. Hazel Lavery’s unraced 2-year-old filly by Oasis Dream (GB) is named La Viette (GB), while her 2020 foal is a daughter of Saxon Warrior (Jpn).

Saturday, Ascot, Britain
QUEEN ELIZABETH II S.-G1, £650,000, Ascot, 10-17, 3yo/up, 8fT, 1:45.13, sf.
1–THE REVENANT (GB), 130, g, 5, by Dubawi (Ire)
1st Dam: Hazel Lavery (Ire) (GSW-Eng, $246,630), by Excellent Art (GB)
2nd Dam: Reprise (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
3rd Dam: Rapid Repeat (Ire), by Exactly Sharp
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Al Asayl France; B-Al Asayl Bloodstock Ltd (GB); T-Francis-Henri Graffard; J-Pierre-Charles Boudot. £368,615. Lifetime Record: Hwt. Older Horse-Ger at 7-9 1/2f, MGSW-Fr & GSW-Ger, 13-10-2-1, $1,172,931. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Roseman (Ire), 130, c, 4, Kingman (GB)–Go Lovely Rose (Ire), by Pivotal (GB). (180,000gns Wlg ’16 TATFOA; €650,000 Ylg ’17 GOFOR). O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum; B-Knocktoran Stud (IRE); T-Roger Varian. £139,750.
3–Palace Pier (GB), 127, c, 3, Kingman (GB)–Beach Frolic (GB), by Nayef. (600,000gns Ylg ’18 TATOCT). O-Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum; B-Highclere Stud and Floors Farming (GB); T-John Gosden. £69,940.
Margins: HD, 3 1/4, HF. Odds: 5.00, 28.00, 0.73.
Also Ran: Sir Busker (Ire), Veracious (GB), Lord Glitters (Fr), Dark Vision (Ire), Nazeef (GB), Century Dream (Ire), Circus Maximus (Ire), Royal Dornoch (Ire), Molatham (GB), Escobar (Ire), Lancaster House (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

The post QEII Glory For Dubawi’s The Revenant appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post