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Saturday’s Champions Day had the second lowest attendance in the event’s history and the television audience was lower than for Newmarket the week before. Kind of puts the Baaeed the Superstar hype into perspective.
A mediocre QE2 did not help matters either and an 80/1 chance winning the handicap will not have sent many punters home happy.
I know we have had this discussion before but the event does not work in this time slot with the strong likelihood of very soft ground.
It is not capturing the imagination.
I have been to Champions’ Day three times, both years Frankel was there and last year.
2011 was superb, last year possibly the best overall day’s racing I ever attended and 2012 just a sheer moment in history it was a privilege to witness.
The Champion Stakes over a straight 1m2f at Newmarket was unique, but as recently stated I think Newmarket is over-rated as a venue, certainly for spectators, whereas Ascot is an infinitely superior racecourse and its location so much better for so many to get to.
But one thing Newmarket produced in October was better ground than Ascot so often can that time of year.
But then is the time of year the real problem?
The Breeders’ Cup gets away with a November slot because it’s staged on a combination of dirt and usually Firm turf.
Champions’ Day is usually conducted with give in the ground (course records never in danger) at the end of a tough season when many horses are over the top.
Wouldn’t a mid-summer slot, when horses are peaking, be more suitable to establish “Champions?”
I think the meeting might fare better in July or August but, of course, that would ruin the Pattern and detract from other summer Group 1s.
The QEII and Champion Stakes aside, the races at this meeting are relatively recent additions to the Racing Calendar and that’s why it’s a bolt on to the end of the season, to minimise disruption to the rest of the racing programme.
It’s a complex issue CAS IMO rightly raises, I wouldn’t claim to have the answers, but I hope I’ve identified some salient relevant issues with this posting.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Timing was always the main issue and they simply were trying to shoe horn/manufacture it into being something that it is not really a natural fit for, especially being two or so weeks after the Arc weekend which quite frankly caters to all the relevant groups including having the 2yr old races as well.
The predecessor the Festival of British Racing that was staged in September if memory serves was a much better fit but we are where we are now and this is what we have but I do think that one thing they might seriously consider is relaying the round course (which is where most the real deep ground is when you look at the turftrack reading on Ascot’s going page on their website) and that would bring Ascot into line with the already relayed straight part of the course and may negate really deep ground that has plague the meeting consistently from its inception.
The straight course consistently rides quicker even after improved drainage had been put in on the round course, I think at the time the straight course was done it was the plan to relay the round course at some point in the future but obviously those plans went by the wayside.
Maybe the time is right to revisted that because it is rather embarrasing to hear talk that a contingency plan if the ground gets too soft is for races on the round course potentially could be moved to the jumps course to ensure better ground!!
For me they also need to not have the meeting be where the champion flat jockey and apprentice etc are crowned especially considering there is stil over a month left of the flat season and the final G1 of the year the Futurity at Doncaster is still to be run, all of which essentially means nothing to the title race which now doesn’t start again until May!
Ian,
They’re not really ‘recent additions’ to the program. The Sprint was once called the Diadem Stakes, the Long Distance was the Jockey Club Cup and the fillies and mares race was the Princess Royal Stakes.
The latter ended up being duplicated as it’s still run as a Group 3 the day before the Middle Park and Cheveley Park.
Go back to the time the decision to set this up was announced and we were confidently told that a crowd of 50,000 was the target, which they expected to achieve easily. I recall pointing out on here at the time, that a Saturday meeting starting before 1:30 pm, with weather unlikely to be suitable for car park picnics, was never going to produce a crowd of that size, even if all the football was called off.
Racecourses generally never like to admit that big crowds are down to coach parties and hence repeat business. But anyone that’s been in the coach park at Cheltenham, Aintree, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood or York, knows the reality. And Champions Day was never likely to have that sort of appeal in the pubs and clubs – and never will now so many of them have disappeared.
I do agree that going back to Newmarket isn’t going to happen and on current evidence, would just make things worse. The total crowd for the two day Future Champions fixture (Oct 7th/8th) was 10,250 – compared to 19,000 for the same cards in 2019.
Fair comment, Alan, but two have been upgraded to Group 1 and the Group 2 has Group 1 race conditions, even if they don’t always meet my personal criteria for a bona-fide Group 1, a victor with a winning OR on the day of 120+.
Anyway, Ascot is half an hour from me – I went to Stratford instead!
That was my verdict on this year’s event.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Lots of good points in the replies.
The timing of the meeting is the main issue. It means it will far more often than not take place on soft ground. It is also stranded between the Arc Weekend and the Breeders Cup, both better meetings.
As pointed out on one of the other threads, Coolmore does not really target Ascot. The Lads would much rather win the big money and impress the American market at the Breeders Cup. It does not help Ascot that the major power in world racing views it as a sideshow.
Irish Champions Weekend works far better. The Irish Champion Stakes is now one of the highlights of the Flat season and the whole weekend (especially the Leopardstown meeting) provides consistently exciting racing.
Ascot does not stand comparison. Both the days it came from – the Festival of British Racing at the end of September and Newmarket Champions Day – worked better in their original times.
The QE2 was generally run on better ground and on the round course. Newmarket certainly provided better ground for the Champion Stakes. As I said on the relevant thread, I can understand why the decision was taken to move the race to Ascot but I am not at all convinced it has improved the race.
Champions Day was very fortunate that its first two years featured Frankel and the first of those years had decent ground. Since then it has been underwhelming. As LD said, having to run what is supposed to be one of the highlights of the year on the jumps track (as happened one year) is not satisfactory.
As ID said, I am not sure what the solution is here. I do not want to sound miserable for the sake of it but I do not see how anyone can argue the event has been a success. It is the poor relation to Ireland, Longchamp and the Breeders Cup.
Maybe the poor attendance can be explained by the post Covid era and the looming economic crisis but I do not think that is the whole story. As AP reminds us, great claims were made about how this meeting was going to draw huge crowds. It never has and by that criteria it can only be viewed as a failure.
“It is the poor relation to Ireland, Longchamp and the Breeders Cup.”
IMO this is the key point.
None of the above actually baldly claims to be the meeting that produces annual “champions” – absurd concept for an end-of-season event, it’s a culmination at best and never an outright coronation, champions establish themselves over time.
Yet they produce more quality.
Arc weekend – and especially Arc day itself – is the best day’s racing in Europe all year long.
From the Prix Du Cadran for extreme stayers on the Saturday, to the Abbaye for 5f speed balls on the Sunday, with something for everyone inbetween these two polarities – 2yo Group 1s for both colts and fillies, the 7f Foret, the L’Opera for fillies & mares and of course the Arc itself, it completely and utterly trumps Ascot’s event year after year after year.
With the Breeders’ Cup the other dice of it, it’s actually a miracle Ascot produces as good a day’s racing as it does.
But imagine how amazing it could be in a more suitable slot.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Flat racing is essentially a summer sport. How can you crown ‘champions’ in mid October? Do you even need ‘champions’ at all? It’s not football or rugby.
“Do you even need ‘champions’ at all?”
Not really. But this meeting is partly the creation of marketing people who do not understand racing and I suspect do not even like it much.
It is all part of this idea there must be a “narrative”. No one has ever really explained why there should.
These same marketing people are also responsible for another idea connected with the day and mentioned in LD’s post – that the “narrative” only runs from Guineas Day to Champions Day. Which means great, long established races like the Lincoln and the November handicaps no longer count towards the jockey or trainers championships, nor does the season’s final Group 1 race.
“Do you even need ‘champions’ at all? It’s not football or rugby.”
THIS.^
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"They’ll never admit it, sports very rarely do. Especially when it was the brainchild of some pseudo marketing expert. Is 10 years too early to judge? Possibly, but there is a definite pattern.
If you were starting racing as a new sport, then it would make sense; you’d have a final day where the top horses, trainers, jockeys, etc are crowned after ‘Champions Day’. And that is it. The End!!
Except here, the season continues……
And in the process they’ve butchered several race meetings, swapped races from course to course, re-named races to suit. And we get races often run on ‘jumping ground’…and a few long shots winning, even in the Gp1 races….it’s not really working as they hoped.
What we had worked, and didn’t need changing…..
If it was a raging success, I’d grudgingly accept it – however I’m afraid it’s a case of putting up with it…as they’re not going to change.
Ian,
Going back to the issue of making the Champions Day races Group 1 contests, it’s interesting to study the rules of the Pattern Committee and see how these races become a self fulfilling prophecy.
To maintain Group 1 status, each year the average end of season rating for the first four finishers is calculated. Then the rolling average of the last three runnings must be 115 or higher to keep Group 1 rank. So if the average was 113 in 2020, 116 in 2021, it needs to be at least 116 in 2022.
So having Bayside Boy win when rated 111 is not good news, especially with 121 rated (which counts as 125 as they add 4lbs to the rating for fillies in mixed sex races!) out of the frame. But of course, Bayside Boy is now a Group 1 winner and as of this morning, his rating is now 119 – problem solved.
Similarly, Run To Freedom, second rated 108 in the Sprint, has been bumped up to 113.
In essence, you can make any race into a Group 1, so long as you control the handicapping process.
Moving the goalposts seems to be a National pastime at the moment!
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysWas Blackbeard in attendance to pick up his champion 2 y/o status
Blackbeard to conquer the World
Alan,
Great stuff and very true – thanks.
For me the stayers race is already a Group 1 in all but name as it has the same conditions as a Group 1 – no penalties.
But I thought it was a sub-standard renewal with Trueshan not needing to run to 120 (my personal benchmark for Group 1 standard) to narrowly reverse an almost equally narrow Doncaster defeat with Coltrane.
The QEII this year was even worse looking at who was third and fourth and their proximity to the winner.
But like you say, if it’s in your power to inflate the OR, you can proclaim a race up to standard, not matter what the logical reality is.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“…If it was a raging success, I’d grudgingly accept it – however I’m afraid it’s a case of putting up with it…as they’re not going to change.”
Andy,
“They” may indeed “change” but what is needed is addressing the elephant in the room which is QIPCO, the sponsor of the event.
It’s no coincidence that Qatari sponsorship of not only the British Champions Day but also sponsorship of Guineas Festival at Newmarket, Irish Champion Stakes, and Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly in France started in 2011, just months after the country was awarded 2022 FIFA World Cup. So, QIPCO’s sole purpose and objective was to promote the name and image of Qatar. They wanted the name to be widely recognized, and they used sports to accomplish this task.
Around the same time, Qatar signed a very lucrative football shirts deal with Barcelona where the name “Qatar Foundation” would appear on their jersey. A couple of years later it was “Qatar Airways”. For the first time in then Barcelona’s 111-year history that they were paid for advertisements on their jersey.
Moreover, in 2014 QIPCO also signed a “commercial” deal with Royal Ascot which runs until 2024.
My point in all of this is, and I’m speculating, that QIPCO may have had already achieved Qatar’s goals as the World Cup is almost here – no need for any further sponsorship of horse races for the sole purpose of name recognition. In such context, their sponsorship may end in 2023 or 2024, to coincide with Royal Ascot’s terms.
Therefore, to attract new sponsors the powers at be may be “forced” to look at more lucrative and salable
alternatives. They may need to redesign the whole product…
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