Who Are The Ascot Champions Day Favourites, Plus How Have The Market Leaders Fared?

Horse racing punters will be starting to study the form books ahead of the big weekend meetings, so we thought we’d look at how past Ascot Champions Day favourites have fared and also highlight which horses are expected to go off as the market leaders in 2024.

How Many Ascot Champions Day Favourites Have Won In Recent Years?

Over the last five seasons we’ve seen eight Ascot Champions Day favourites win – with the most recent being the Frankie Dettori-ridden King Of Steel in 2023, who won the Champion Stakes.

With six races per meeting, this works out at a 27% Ascot favourites strike-rate over Champions Day since 2019.

One of those horse racing market leaders was Magical in 2019 – a horse that heading into the 2024 meeting remains trainer Aidan O’Brien’s last winner at this fixture.

British Champions Day at Ascot 2024 Details

📅Date: Saturday 19th October 2024
⌚Times: 1:20pm to 4:35pm
🏇Racecourse: Ascot, Berkshire
📺 TV: ITV / Sky Racing (ATR)

All of the 2024 Champions Day Ascot meeting will be covered on ITV Racing this Saturday.

2024 Ascot Champions Day Favourites: Which Horses Head The Markets?

See below the six Champions Day races for Saturday 19th October and the most like Ascot favourites according to the best horse racing betting sites in the UK.

You can also see the Champions Day bankers here, as we assess their chances.

1:20 – Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup: KYPRIOS

Will be looking to give jockey Ryan Moore his first Champions Day winner since Magical in 2018 and also provide trainer Aidan O’Brien with his first at the meeting since 2019.

Prolific stayer that has won all six starts this season – including two Ascot Gold Cups here at the Berkshire track.

Kyprios takes Trawlerman, who won this race 12 months ago (watch below), but had that Godolphin horse a length back in the Gold Cup in the summer.

1:55 – Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes: KINROSS

Wonderful servant to his connection – winning just shy of £2m in total prize money – and was also the winner of this race back in 2022, plus a neck runner-up in 2023.

Still going strong at the age of 7 and the form of his recent Park Stakes was franked with the second Lead Artist winning last weekend.

However, since 1979 all winners of the Champions Sprint have been aged 6 or younger.

2:35 – Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes: KALPANA

Bolted up in the September Stakes last time out at Kempton (Group 3) and was also a fine third in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.

Top jockey William Buick rides for the first time but will also be encountering soft ground for the first time – with all runs to date coming on ‘good’ of quicker.

Is, however, related to the French Derby winner Study Of Man, who handled deeper ground, so there is breeding hope to cling to.

3:15 – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes: CHARYN

Didn’t win a race in 2023 but has thrived as a 4 year-old this season – winning the Queen Anne at the Royal Meeting at Ascot in June and also a top Group One in France.

Last seen finishing second at Longchamp in the Moulin, but jockey Silvestre De Sousa seemed to give this Roger Varian runner a lot to do that day and was closing at the line.

Will love the softer ground and is the clear top-rated in the field (122), so no shock to see him bounce back to winning ways.

3:55 – Qipco Champion Stakes: ECONOMICS / CALANDAGAN 

We could have joint-favourites in the feature race on the card that carries the most Ascot prize money on Champions Day.

The Irish Champion Stakes winner Economics will have his supporters after seeing off the 2023 Epsom Derby winner Auguste Rodin last time. However, those against him will look that being a hard race and also the softer ground here being an unknown.

Calandagan brings tip-top form to the table too – winning the King Edvard VII Stakes here in easy fashion in June and then ran the classy City Of Troy to a length in the Juddmonte International at York at the end of August.

We know this French runner stays – having won over 1m4f in the past, which could be the deciding factor in testing ground.

4:35 – Balmoral Handicap: THUNDER RUN

The final Ascot Champions Day race is the only handicap on the card – and with 20 runners heading to post it will be a tricky one for punters to unravel.

At this stage the Irish raider State Actor is one of the market leaders, along with the Karl Burke-trained Thunder Run, who also has the services of Ryan Moore.

This lightly-raced 3 year-old will be having only his sixth career run but has already won three of those and comes here off the back of a top success a York at the end of York.

To help solve the Balmoral Handicap puzzle you can also see they key Champions Day trends and stats here.

Note: The above Ascot Champions Day favourites are just a guide and could change before race day (Sat 19th Oct)