The Longchamp factor: are Magical and The Revenant vulnerable favourites?

The Qipco British Champions Day card at Ascot comes a mere two weekends after another premier fixture of the European Flat season, the two-day Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting at Longchamp.

The quick turnaround between the lucrative race meetings presents a dilemma for connections every year, but it is little surprise many owners and trainers try to take in both with their star performers. A record 15 runners were declared on Thursday to compete on Champions Day, just 13 or 14 days after running at Longchamp.

But does a run at the Paris venue prove useful in the search for Champions Day winners, or do exertions at the Arc meeting tend to leave a mark when push comes to shove at Ascot?

Champion Stakes favourite Magical won at the meeting last year after contesting the ArcCredit: Edward Whitaker

Beware Arc runners in the Champion Stakes

Magical finished fifth in the Arc behind Waldgeist on October 6 and has been well supported throughout this week in the build to the Qipco Champion Stakes.

However, while Magical has previous for coping superbly with the short gap between Longchamp and Ascot – she won the Fillies & Mares race last year after finishing tenth in the Arc – the recent record of runners tackling the Champion Stakes after the Arc does not make for good reading.

Pride was the last horse to win the Champion in 2006 (when staged in Newmarket) after competing in that season's Arc (runner-up), with all 11 horses to have tried since beaten, including 2016 Arc winner Found.

Seven of the 11 beaten were sent off at 6-1 or shorter, a piece of context which may provoke some thought before backing Magical to do the business this year.

Fate of the favourites not good

British Champions Day has attracted 60 runners who competed at the Arc meeting since the concept began in 2011.

Those runners have amassed five wins and ten second-place finishes on Champions Day, and while four of the five winners were priced 5-1 or shorter at Ascot, the performance of favourites who ran in France is poor.

Order Of St George was a narrow winner of the Long Distance Cup, 20 days after finishing fourth in the ArcCredit: Edward Whitaker

Two out of eight favourites obliged, with only Gordon Lord Byron (5-1 joint-favourite) and Order Of St George (4-5) successful.

The Revenant, winner of his last six starts, mostly in soft or heavy conditions, is favourite for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes after his emphatic win in the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein on Arc weekend.

The route from the Daniel Wildenstein to the QEII has been taken before by Hey Gaman and Gregorian with little success, but neither possessed the profile or market position of the French raider, who will be partnered by Arc-winning rider Pierre Charles-Boudot.

The Revenant will have to make history if he is to win on Saturday, with no winner at the Arc meeting going on to achieve further success at that season's Champions Day fixture.

The five horses who won on Champions Day after running at the Arc meeting

Magical (5-1)
Fillies & Mares, 2018

Hydrangea (4-1)
Fillies & Mares, 2017

Order Of St George (4-5)
Long Distance Cup, 2017

Gordon Lord Byron (5-1)
Champions Sprint, 2014

Cirrus Des Aigles (12-1)
Champion Stakes, 2011

Respect Aidan O'Brien runners out again quickly

The last three horses to win after the quick turnaround were trained by Aidan O'Brien, including in the last two renewals of the Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes won by Magical and Hydrangea. The latter may have benefited from the unusual extra week between the two meetings.

Aidan O'Brien: a man not to be underestimated on Champions Day, even with horses out again quicklyCredit: Edward Whitaker

While Magical contested the Arc before her win, Hydrangea was narrowly denied by stablemate Rhododendron in the Prix de l'Opera, a similar scenario to the one facing Fleeting on Saturday.

O'Brien also runs Delphinia, Pink Dogwood and South Sea Pearl, who all ran at Longchamp, with Delphinia renewing rivalries with her Prix de Royallieu conqueror Anapurna. The 1m6f contest held Group 1 status for the first time.

Fillies & Mares favourite Star Catcher and leading contenders Tarnawa and Antonia De Vega did not run at the Arc meeting.

Foret, Abbaye or neither – which path is best for the Sprint?

There was no six-furlong Group race at Longchamp on Arc weekend, but runners from the 7f Prix de la Foret and 5f Prix de l'Abbaye are set to contest the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes which opens the £4.2 million card.

Back-to-back Foret winner One Master is set for a rare return to six furlongs, with Irish-trained runners Speak In Colours (third) and Forever In Dreams (seventh) also dropping in distance after the Foret. It is a route Gordon Lord Byron took successfully on heavy ground in 2014 after finishing second behind Olympic Glory at Longchamp.

Two-time Prix de la Foret winner One Master will try and follow a route Gordon Lord Byron took in 2014Credit: Edward Whitaker

There have been eight attempts to go from the Abbaye to the Champions Sprint, including by Abbaye winners Wizz Kid and Maarek. They subsequently finished seventh and 12th, with Wizz Kid also the closest to winning at Ascot when second in 2011. Six of the eight contenders finished seventh or worse at the Berkshire course.

Seven of the last eight Champions Sprint winners did not run at the Arc meeting, with the Haydock Sprint Cup proving a popular form line.

Champions Day runners who competed at Longchamp

Champions Sprint
Speak In Colours, Mabs Cross, One Master, Forever In Dreams, So Perfect

Long Distance Cup
Cleonte

Fillies & Mares
Anapurna, Delphinia, Fleeting, Pink Dogwood, South Sea Pearl

Queen Elizabeth II
Safe Voyage, The Revenant

Champion Stakes
Magical, Mehdaayih

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