Puzzles aplenty as champions galore return for one last seasonal hurrah

When you brand an event Champions Day you will always be judged a shade more harshly on the champions you attract and despite getting off to the fastest of starts, thanks largely to Frankel, that is a bar the British Flat season's curtain call has not always managed to clear.

It is easy to bemoan the missing. No Ghaiyyath, Mohaather, Kameko, Enable, Love or Battaash. No Hello Youmzain, Space Blues or Golden Horde, no Pinatubo, Wichita or Siskin, no Tarnawa, Alpine Star, Mogul or Sottsass. And yet all is not lost.

Stradivarius, the best stayer of his generation, takes on the Irish St Leger one-two in the Long Distance Cup. The July Cup and Sprint Cup winners clash in a battle of the speedsters. Europe's unbeaten and pre-eminent miler will strut his stuff in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes against four horses who have won seven Group 1s between them and Magical versus Mishriff, with a supporting cast of six other top-quality horses, ensures the main event more than takes top billing.