3 minute read
Anapurna and Star Catcher tackle Ascot Group One
Anapurna and Star Catcher , winners of the English and Irish Oaks respectively, give John Gosden a formidable hand in the Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
Both have shown their well-being recently, with Star Catcher taking the Prix Vermeille on her last start and Anapurna the Prix de Royallieu.
O'Brien is responsible for four of the 10 runners – Delphinia, Fleeting, Pink Dogwood and South Sea Pearl – while Dermot Weld provides the other Irish-trained runner in Tarnawa, in a race that will be live on Sky Sports Racing.
The last three winners of the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes – Sands Of Mali, Librisa Breeze and The Tin Man – are going for glory again after all 17 five-day entries were declared for the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes.
Star three-year-olds Advertise, successful in the Commonwealth Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest, and Hello Youmzain, winner of Haydock's Sprint Cup, have headed the ante-post betting with dual Prix de la Foret victor One Master.
Make A Challenge is doing just that for Irish trainer Denis Hogan after being supplemented for £40,000 following an impressive victory at the Curragh on Sunday.
Others in the mix include Brando, Cape Byron, Donjuan Triumphant, Dream Of Dreams and Mabs Cross.
Roger Varian sends Cape Byron back to the Berkshire circuit just a fortnight after winning the Bengough Stakes. He also won the Wokingham over the course and distance at the Royal meeting in June.
Varian said: "He's a good horse and he didn't really love the July Cup on that firm ground at Newmarket (finished 11th). It took him a while to get over that, but he showed he was coming back to himself when he finished a good third at York and he won well in the Bengough.
"At this time of year the ground there is unlikely to dry out, and it gives you confidence knowing he handles it."
The Gosden-trained Lord North, emphatic winner of the Cambridgeshire, tops the weights for the Balmoral Handicap for which a maximum field of 20 was declared plus three reserves.