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It was blessed right from the beginning.

Qipco British Champions Day burst into life with the help of an exceptional champion. The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes had not previously been staged in mid-October but nor had it ever been won by a horse like Frankel. On that particular autumn afternoon, Ascot was the place to be.

So it was 12 months later when Frankel brought his racecourse career to an end in perfect fashion by winning the Qipco Champion Stakes, the mile-and-a-quarter feature transferred from Newmarket to form the centrepiece of a celebratory occasion that since 2015 has also become the final day in the Flat jockeys' championship.