Fresh-faced Buick and careworn Murphy take epic title bout to an Ascot finale

Qipco British Champions Day is a pretty good moment to crown your champion jockey, if what you want most of all is a grand stage with everyone paying attention. But is it an appropriate card for deciding the outcome of the title race? We're about to find out as William Buick and Oisin Murphy bring their wrestling match from its tour of the provinces to a climactic show at Ascot.

Until Friday's action gave the reigning champ what looks a decisive lead, it was hard to escape the feeling that Buick, the older man by seven years, was the one finishing this race to best effect. Only a week ago, it wasn't even seen as a live contest and bookmakers had stopped taking bets.

Ten winners for Buick in the next five days injected fresh life into the struggle and meant the outcome could not be called until the final card. Newly married and a Classic winner in both Britain and Ireland this year, Buick looked fresh-faced as ever this week as he progressed from Leicester to Nottingham to Chelmsford, quite unlike the haggard, haunted specimens we are used to seeing at the very end of back-and-forth title battles.