Almanzor and Found, who had six other Group 1 winners behind when dominating the finish of the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last month, meet again in the £1.3 million Group 1 QIPCO Champion Stakes – Europe’s most valuable mile and a quarter race.
The former, with an official rating of 127, is now the highest-rated horse in Europe, while the latter has since landed the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly, when her trainer, Aidan O’Brien, made history by saddling the first three home.
The pair head a tremendous 11-strong field for the richest mile and a quarter race in Europe. Recent winners include the mighty Frankel, who won the 2012 renewal on his final start before being retired to stud, having won all 14 of his races.
O’Brien has made a habit of not just winning recent big races but also training the runner-up (and in the case of the QIPCO 1000 Guineas and the Arc the third home as well) and, in addition to Found, he runs US Army Ranger, who chased home Harzand in the Investec Derby at Epsom in June but has failed to reproduce that form in two subsequent starts.
The first four home in last year’s running of the QIPCO Champion Stakes – Fascinating Rock, Found, Jack Hobbs and Racing History – return and, in total, there will be six Group 1 winners in action. Between them, they have won eleven races at the highest level.
Aidan O’Brien, trainer of Found, winner of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 11 days ago, and having her 14th Group 1 race in the past two years, said:
“The Arc was always her [principal] target. All the other races were on the way to the Arc. She takes her races so well. We did it last year [run in the Irish Champion Stakes, Arc and Champion Stakes] and she’s been fine since France. It’s the way she is. “We all knew a long time ago that there’s something different about her. She’s incredible, really, the most genuine horse I’ve ever seen. She empties the tank every time. The problem is not to let her empty too quick – she goes right to the bottom of herself. It’s very unusual.”
John Gosden, trainer of Jack Hobbs, third in the race last year but absent since late April after sustaining a stress fracture to his pelvis in April, said:
“It’s not a dissimilar situation to that of Shalaa [who runs in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes] in that he sustained a very similar injury in the Jockey Club Stakes – and he has had to fight his way back. “He worked well at Kempton [late last month] – I was delighted with his work around there – and he is fit and ready. He has strengthened well and having the summer off has given him time to develop. “He’s in great order for it and he’s not a type that’s ring-rusty, but I’m very aware of the task in hand because I think the best three-year-old in Europe [Almanzor] is favourite. I thought his win in the Irish Champion was the finest race of the year, as has been proved by the Arc result straight away. From that point of view we know what task is, but I’m looking forward to getting him back on the track.”
Clive Cox, trainer of My Dream Boat, who won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and was fifth in the Irish Champion Stakes last time:
“There were eight Group 1 winners in the Irish Champion Stakes – it was probably the best race I’ve had the privilege to run a horse in. He’s had a nice time from that race to here and I’m very pleased with him. “He’s shown best ever level of form at Ascot, which is good, and he maintained his form at this time last year. Some horses go off the boil at this time but last year he definitely kept a spark about him. We are very much looking forward to the race.” Sir Michael Stoute, trainer of Midterm, runner-up in the Prix Niel at Chantilly last month after four months off with a hamstring injury, said: “He’s fine. His run in the Prix Niel did him the power of good. I’d say a well-run ten furlongs will suit him well.”
