Magical afternoon in store for followers of O’brien star

Way clear for four-year-old to add to haul of victories

MAGICAL can land the most valuable success of her fine career in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot today.

The four-year-old has been a tremendous servant to Aidan O’brien, with three Group One victories to her credit, including the Fillies And Mares on this card 12 months ago.

She has competed in virtually all of the major races from a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half in the last 12 months, finishing second to Enable three times and to Crystal Ocean in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the Royal meeting.

That race was run on soft ground so conditions should not be a problem and she does not have to take on either of her old adversaries this time.

Magical ran a creditable race in the Arc and was actually leading at this distance before fading in the final furlong and a half on the testing ground to take fifth place behind Waldgeist.

If Enable has been Magical’s nemesis then for BENBATL it was Winx. The nowretired Australian superstar got the better of Godolphin’s battle-hardened globe-trotter by two lengths in the Cox Plate 12 months ago.

The Saeed bin Suroor-trained five-yearold only returned to action three weeks ago at Newmarket but it was well worth the wait as Benbatl ran out an impressive five-length winner over King Of Comedy in the Group Two Joel Stakes.

That was the ideal stepping-stone ahead of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, which he can lift and register a first Group One triumph in the UK and fourth in all.

ADVERTISE has already collected a Group One over Ascot’s six furlongs this season, the Commonwealth Cup, and can repeat the feat in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes.

The three-year-old colt, trained by Martyn Meade, has also won the Prix Maurice de Gheest, despite having an interrupted campaign that saw him miss Haydock’s Sprint Cup last month.

He is clearly a top-class performer and can put his rivals to the sword to end the campaign on a high.

SELECTIONS

ASCOT: 1.35 Advertise, 2.10 Stradivarius, 2.45 Anapurna, 3.20 Benbatl, 4.00 MAGICAL (NAP), 4.40 Kick On.

CATTERICK: 1.40 Leoch, 2.15 Let Her Loose, 2.50 B Fifty Two, 3.25 Teruntum Star, 3.55 Anna Bunina, 4.30 Confrontational, 5.00 Soft Summer Rain, 5.35 Smart Lass.

STRATFORD: 1.45 Sidi Ismael, 2.20 Kapsize, 2.55 First Quest, 3.30 One Forty Seven, 4.05 Never Be Enough, 4.35 Full Shift, 5.10 Jaxlight.

DOUBLE: Magical and Benbatl.