Champion Stakes may be run on hurdles course to avoid soft ground

The Qipco Champion Stakes, highlight of Britain's Flat season finale at Ascot, could be staged on a newly demarcated inner course in a bid to avoid running on soft ground, which has dogged the race in recent years and deterred some trainers from aiming their stable stars at the £1.3 million contest.

The inner course, currently used only for jump racing, is not subject to summer watering and was good, good to firm in places at the time of last year's Qipco British Champions Day, while the existing course has not offered predominantly good ground since the inaugural fixture in 2011. A previously mooted plan to deploy rain covers on the course has been dropped, however.

Chris Stickels, clerk of the course at Ascot, said: "We've undertaken extensive research in an effort to ensure we run Qipco British Champions Day on the best possible ground available. Last year the existing outer Flat course was good to soft, soft in places.