Some big names may be missing from action but Champions Day still features a galaxy of stars in a fitting finale

Some of the stars might be missing, and the weather is doing its best to deprive us of more of them, but it's a mark of what a terrific Flat season this has been that Qipco British Champions Day can still produce a line-up worthy of the name.

In particular, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes promises to be a true epic. Paddington, undoubtedly one of the biggest success stories of the season with four wins at the highest level between May 27 and August 2, bids for a fifth in the Group 1 mile race. His Ascot victory in the St James’s Palace Stakes was the most impressive of the four, but he faces opposition of the highest calibre on his return to Berkshire.

Fellow three-year-old Tahiyra, winner of the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, has experienced defeat only once in six starts and could prove the toughest of nuts to crack on the back of a relatively light campaign.