CHAMPIONS' DAY

Unpalatable though it may be, sometimes one must eat humble pie. The admirable Charyn has forced it down my throat this season. I can not think of another top class (and highly progressive) miler who is by a stallion that raced only at two and whose first three dams are all by sprinters. The spectre of what that highly commercial approach may bring is fearful, but one can only take one’s hat off to the breeder Guy O’Callaghan from Grangemore Stud for both his design and the husbandry that raised him. Other than his colour, he is not a typical son of his sire and has tremendous depth for his frame. It is hard to explain where the genes come from that enable him to excel at one mile with ease. A duplication of Ahonoora in the fifth remove is distant enough to fall closer to interesting than significant; but this is one of the few sprinters that has sired a Derby winner.

The handsome Anmaat struck a blow for a clever breeder who has produced racehorses successful at the highest level from modest backgrounds for several years. Derek Veitch of Ringfort stud has recently passed the baton on to the next generation, but this victory was a timely reminder that the land and raising is at least as important as the name at the head of the pedigree.

Champions’ Day produced exciting racing, but the ground was as dreadful as usual. In modern parlance Ascot “reimagined” the National Hunt Course as “Inner Course,” but it is highly unsuitable as a proving ground for the best horses in Europe. To have two major series of championship races a fortnight apart at the end of a long season and habitually in mud is indefensible.

The prize money for our midsummer highlights needs further strengthening to cement their pre-eminence as the most relevant reference for top-class breeding potential.