Excelebration faces rematch with Cityscape, Elusive Kate on
Champions Day
One race prior to Frankel’s anticipated career finale in the Group 1 QIPCO
Champion Stakes on Saturday at Ascot, a field of eight will take to the green in
the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. The four-year-old Excelebration, trained by Aidan O’Brien, has
been beaten five times by Frankel and finally has the chance to prove himself the top
miler in Europe without having to take on his nemesis.
Excelebration won the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois in good style in his latest
start from Roger Charlton’s Cityscape and the John Gosden-trained Elusive Kate,
who are both in opposition once more. Before his French victory, the Exceed and
Excel four-year-old was 11 lengths behind Frankel in the Group 1 Queen Anne
Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Cityscape returns to the European landscape following a third-place run in
the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in Toronto. The well-traveled six-year-old son of
Selkirk has tasted victory just once this season, with that coming in his 2012
opener, the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free at Meydan.
Elusive Kate returned from her Jacques le Marois run to be second in the
Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes on September 29. Like Cityscape, the Elusive Quality
sophomore miss has just a single win on her 2012 record, taking the Group 1 Prix
Rothschild in late July.
The Queen is represented by Carlton House, who disappointed when a dead-heat
fourth in the Group 2 Summer
Mile on this course when dropped in distance from 12 furlongs last out on July
21. The Street Cry colt opened his four-year-old campaign with a nice win in the
Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes in late May, returning from a near one-year
layoff in that contest, and was second in his only other start this season, the
Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes during Royal Ascot.
Brian Meehan’s Most Improved also competed at the Royal meeting, taking the
Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, but will need to return to that form after two subsequent defeats.
Side Glance, Sovereign Debt and German challenger Indomito complete the
Queen Elizabeth II line-up.
Before the QEII, Dancing Rain will go for a title defense in the Group 2 QIPCO British
Champions Fillies’ & Mares’ Stakes against nine rivals.
William Haggas’ four-year-old daughter of Danehill Dancer has only competed
once since claiming this 1 1/2-mile contest 12 months ago, finishing
off-the-board in
Japan’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup last November. The chestnut
filly’s 2012 preparations were interrupted following that, preventing her from running
up until this point.
Among those Dancing Rain will face Saturday is Was, who is looking for a
return to the winner’s circle for the first time since taking the Group 1 Epsom
Oaks on June 1. The O’Brien-trained Galileo filly was unable to complete the
Epsom-Irish Oaks double when fourth in that latter Group 1 event to the
re-opposing Great Heavens. Was has filled the third spot in her last two, the
Group 1 Nassau Stakes and Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks.
Great Heavens has been given the green light by John Gosden for a rematch
with Was on Saturday after her sixth-place run in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe, her only race since taking the Irish Oaks. The three-year-old daughter
of Galileo currently sports a 6-4-0-0 scorecard.
Haggas also runs Vow, who was fourth behind Was in the Epsom Oaks and will be
ridden by Richard Hughes for the first time here, while Irish Oaks runner-up
Shirocco is also in the field.
The QIPCO British Champions Day card will get underway in the Group 3 Long Distance Cup,
where three previous Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup winners will take each other on in the
two-mile marathon.
Saeed bin Suroor’s Colour Vision tasted Gold Cup success in June, but has been beaten three times since his finest hour.
Nonetheless, jockey Frankie Dettori has stayed loyal to the Rainbow Quest
four-year-old, most recently piloting him to a third-place finish in the Group 1
Prix du Cadran on October 7.
Last year’s Ascot Gold Cup winner Fame and
Glory has likewise tasted defeat in his past two, including a seventh-place run
behind Colour Vision in this year’s Gold Cup. The six-year-old son of Montjeu
was last seen finishing sixth in the Group 1 Irish St Leger for O’Brien.
Rite of Passage was triumphant in the 2010 Ascot Gold Cup, but has competed
just once since that race due to injury. That came when the Giant’s Causeway
eight-year-old veteran finished third behind Fame and Glory in a listed race in
May 2011. The Dermot Weld pupil will be having his first start in more than 500
days in the Long Distance Cup.
Mahmood Al Zarooni’s Opinion Poll, second in the Gold Cup this season,
will also be in the mix under Mickael Barzalona.
The Group 2 QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes features the largest field
among the group events with 15 scheduled to line up in the six-furlong affair.
French raider Wizz Kid, trained by Robert Collet, was runner-up 12 months ago
in this contest and will try to improve one spot on Saturday. The Whipper
four-year-old just got up
in the final yards of the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye to deny Mayson by a neck at
Longchamp in his most recent race on October 7.
There is a second cross-Channel challenger in the shape of Henri-Alex
Pantall’s Restiadargent, who was third to Australian super mare Black Caviar in
the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes over course and distance at the Royal meeting.
Opposition to the French pair include Society Rock, who could only finish
12th in this race last year. However, James Fanshawe’s Rock of Gibraltar
five-year-old returns to the Berkshire track on the back
of Group 1 success in the Sprint Cup at Haydock.
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