Extremely soft conditions will affect Champions Day

To escape the long shadow of the great Enable, Magical is traveling to a bog.

In truth, Magical is shipping this weekend from trainer Aidan O’Brien’s base in Ireland to Ascot Racecourse just west of London, but so rain-soaked is Ascot that three races on Saturday’s British Champions Day card scheduled for Ascot’s round course have been transferred to the inner course.

That course, typically used for races over jumps, not on the flat, was termed good-to-soft as of Thursday, while the straight course was listed as heavy. Ascot got one midweek day of drying, but more rain was possible Friday and Saturday, which could lead to radically testing going on a program that includes four Group 1s and a Group 2.

The Group 1, $1.75 million Champion Stakes is one of the races shifted to the inner course and is also the spot for Magical, who wheels back two weeks after finishing fifth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Magical can stay the Arc’s 1 1/2-mile trip but goes well over the Champion’s 1 1/4 miles, and has raced effectively over soft going before. Best of all, Magical doesn’t have to race against Enable, who finished second in the Arc and has handed Magical three Group 1 defeats over the last year – in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, the Eclipse Stakes, and the Yorkshire Oaks. Magical already has raced eight times this season, and it’s not out of the question she’s gone beyond her 2019 best.

Deirdre, a Japanese mare who has been in England for several months now, wouldn’t have raced over heavy ground, but her connections apparently have decided to let Deirdre take her chance over the better going on the inner turf. Deirdre won the Group 1, sex-restricted Nassau Stakes in August and most recently was a troubled fourth in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes.

The 5-year-old gelding Addeybb is nothing like a proven Group 1 performer, but loves soft and heavy ground, and as of Thursday was the 3-1 second choice in overseas early wagering on the Champion. Coronet, a John Gosden-trained mare who also thrives over sodden courses, has come in for considerable support herself and was 7-2 Thursday.

Ascot also moved the Group 1 Fillies and Mares and Group 2 Long Distance Cup to the inner course. Soft ground or not, Stradivarius is the odds-on favorite in the Long Distance Cup, contested at a distance just short of two miles. Stradivarius won the 2018 renewal of this race by 1 1/2 lengths racing over soft going and is bringing a 10-race winning streak spanning his 2018 and 2019 racing seasons into Saturday’s test.

Frankie Dettori rides Stradivarius for trainer John Gosden, and the same pair has Star Catcher, the Fillies and Mares favorite. Star Catcher has won three races in a row beginning with a course-and-distance win in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes during the Royal Ascot meeting, which was followed by tallies in the Group 1 Irish Oaks and over older fillies and mares in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille. The Gosden-trained Annapurna was seventh behind her stablemate in the Vermeille but won the Oaks at Epsom in May and came back Oct. 5 with a solid Group 1 win in France.

The Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II over a straight mile has 16 runners and a surprising early favorite in 3-1 The Revenant, who has never even contested a Group 1 race but has eight wins from 10 starts and strong form over rain-soaked courses. In his most recent race, the Prix Daniel Wildenstein, The Revenant won by four lengths over a very soft course.

Godolphin’s Benbatl was a powerhouse winner of the Group 2 Joel Stakes on Sept. 27, his first start in nearly a year, but almost certainly prefers firmer footing than he’ll find in the QE II. Lord Glitters, whose connections haven’t ruled out a start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, merits respect but struggled home sixth when the 2017 QE II was run over a soft Ascot course.

Advertise is the early favorite in the Group 1 Sprint, which will be run over a straight six furlongs, a distance that will test the stamina of shortwinded sprinters racing on heavy turf. Advertise fits the bill of a horse who has found success at trips longer than six furlongs, and when last seen on Aug. 4 was winning the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest over 6 1/2 furlongs at Deauville. How he’ll cope with heavy going is uncertain since Advertise never has raced on anything worse than good-tosoft ground.

The Sprint is the card’s lidlifter with post time set for 8:35 a.m. Eastern. Post time for the Champion, the last stakes race, is 11 a.m.