A Champions Day form boost, Breeders' Cup dark horse and money isn't everything - three things we learned this week

It has been another busy week in the world of racing. Here we pick out three things we learned . . .

French raider gets another big form boost for QEII

Aside from perhaps Westover, there haven't been too many others who have had the misfortune to bump into the number of superstars Big Rock has.

Overwhelming favourite for the Prix du Jockey Club in June after racking up a four-race winning sequence, Big Rock bumped into Ace Impact, who overhauled Christopher Head’s big hope with a devastating burst of acceleration, a quality he demonstrated again in the Arc.

Next up was the Prix Jacques le Marois and a clash with an Inspiral at the top of her game. Her Racing Post Rating that day was only 1lb off her career-best, and she proved how strong she has become as a four-year-old when easily landing the Sun Chariot Stakes on Saturday. That was her fifth Group 1 and the first time she has won twice in succession since her juvenile days.

Inspiral's easy Sun Chariot win was a timely boost for Big RockCredit: Edward Whitaker

Those two defeats for Big Rock followed a five-length thrashing of Horizon Dore in the Group 3 Prix de Guiche in May and that gelding is now favourite for the Champion Stakes. His defeat at odds-on in the Moulin was disappointing, but he is due a big one and his form is looking tasty heading into the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Inspiral’s connections seem to be leaning more towards the Breeders’ Cup, but the QEII is shaping up to be a particularly warm running, with Paddington, Tahiyra and Nashwa dominating the ante-post market. However, the French raider may still have a big part to play.

Emaraaty Ana well placed for another Breeders' Cup bid

Most people (and racehorses) could attest to the fact that the older you get the slower you become. Not so much Emaraaty Ana, who at the age of seven is becoming quicker, according to his rider Neil Callan.

The 2021 Sprint Cup winner had raced exclusively over six furlongs this season until dropping to five on Saturday for the Listed Rous Stakes. 

Emaraaty Ana: back to winning ways at Ascot on SaturdayCredit: Alan Crowhurst

He responded with his first victory since that day at Haydock more than two years ago, and surely connections will now opt for another trip to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and hope it can be third time lucky.

Emaraaty Ana has finished second and fourth in the last two runnings and was cut to 16-1 by Betfair Sportsbook for the $1 million Grade 1 at Santa Anita. British-trained horses dominate the head of the market but, with some unexpected results occurring in the sprint division this year, there would be little for connections to fear.

Big spending no guarantee of success

The Tattersalls Book 1 sale dominated the headlines last midweek, with some eyewatering bids tabled and old rivals Coolmore and Godolphin predictably in the thick of things.

They duelled for the most expensive purchase of the week in a 2,000,000gns Frankel colt, with Coolmore eventually striking the decisive blow.

Godolphin still managed to top the buyers' chart with more than 12,000,000gns worth of purchases, but were served a reminder big money does not translate into automatic success when Military Leader, a 1,500,000gns purchase this time last year, could finish only seventh of eight on his debut at Newmarket on Saturday.

In an example of the contrasting fortunes this season of racing's two powerhouses, Coolmore's 1,900,000gns purchase Euphoric got his career off to a winning start at Navan three days before Military Leader's defeat.

Even that victory was far from impressive, though, as the Frankel colt squeezed home by a short head as the 15-8 favourite, with Seamie Heffernan's comments afterwards making it clear he is very much a work in progress.

Even for Godolphin and Coolmore, money isn't everything.

Read more . . .

'I couldn't have written a better ending' - mighty Inspiral earns Frankie Dettori landmark 500th Newmarket winner in Sun Chariot 

'I'd have a stab at the Breeders' Cup' -  California dreamin' for Neil Callan after Emaraaty Ana triumph 

Coolmore and Godolphin renew Tattersalls rivalry as blue-blooded Frankel colt fetches 2,000,000gns 

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