Welcome to Ascot on Champions Day 2026, ahead of a seven-race card that stands at least a fair degree of comparison with the end-of-season jamborees in Paris two weeks ago, and in Keeneland later this month.
For that, we owe thanks to the long, dry summer that has extended into mid-October. That means in turn that this yearâÂÂs card will be one of the few without the word âÂÂsoftâ somewhere in the going description (although it is also, as the Racing PostâÂÂs columnist Richard Forristal pointed out earlier this week, âÂÂa pity that it required the world to burn for the event to workâÂÂ).
But here we are, with seven races including five Group Ones and an unusually live race for the Flat trainersâ championship between Andrew Balding and Aidan OâÂÂBrien which could effectively be decided today.
BaldingâÂÂs main hope is Kalpana, the favourite, in the Fillies & Mares Stakes at 2.40, while OâÂÂBrien has several decent chances scattered through the card, the most obvious being Gstaad in the ã1.1m Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at 3.20 and Constitution River in the feature event, the ã1.3m Champion Stakes, at 4.00.
Shock winners were the order of the day last year, when the Sprint was won by a 200-1 shot and the QEII by a 100-1 chance, so the punters may well approach the proceedings with a degree of trepidation.
My picks for the seven races are here â underneath an interview with the immensely impressive new 20-year-old champion jockey, Billy Loughnane â and we are underway at 12.55 with the Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes.