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Qatar Racing Champion Stakes: runner-by-runner guide and tip

Last Updated: Tue 13 Oct 2026

Alex Scott takes a close look at all eleven runners remaining in Saturday's £1.3 million feature at Ascot and shares his prediction.

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1 ALMAQAM

T: Ed Walker. J: Kieran Shoemark. OR: 124. Best odds: 8-1.

A consistent top-level performer, Ed Walker’s five-year-old is certainly capable of winning another Group One, but he has come up short in three attempts since winning the Tattersalls Gold Cup on his seasonal debut in May.

Painfully for Ed Walker and connections, the son of Lope De Vega traded at 1.01 in running in the Juddmonte International, only to be collared by Item as they hit the line. There was no shame in getting narrowly beaten by a progressive three-year-old who thrives at York, though he was slightly below that level when only fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes last month.

He wouldn’t want conditions too quick, but handles good ground without any problems, and he was third in the race 12 months ago behind the re-opposing Calandagan and Ombudsman. He has sound each-way claims yet again.

2 BAY CITY ROLLER

T: George Scott. J: Oisin Murphy. OR: 124. Best odds: 9-2.

Coronation Cup hero Bay City Roller bids for a third Group One less than two weeks after finishing second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. (Pic: focusonracing.com)

Having finished in the first two in 13 of his 15 races, Bay City Roller is a credit to connections and ran a huge race when second to Daryz in the Arc from stall 15 just over a week ago.

As the race turned out, being drawn wide was probably an advantage, but it was still a top effort and probably a career best having got slightly closer to Francis Graffard’s colt than he did when second to him in September’s Prix Foy.

A ten-length winner of the Coronation Cup in June in soft ground, he was flattered by the winning margin of ten lengths, but he had won a German Group One by a wide margin on soft the previous autumn, so whilst he handles the faster ground he encountered at Longchamp, he also relishes testing conditions.

This would be his first run at Ascot and he faces a turnaround of just 13 days, but his form this season makes him a leading player.

3 CALANDAGAN

T: Francis-Henri Graffard. J: Christophe Soumillon. OR: 130. Best odds: 5-2.

It is easy to forget that it took the defending champion five attempts to get off the mark at the top level, having finished second in his first four Group Ones, including in this race in 2024.

However, once the son of Gleneagles broke his duck in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last summer, he went on a streak of five consecutive Group One victories, a run which including winning two of Ascot’s biggest prizes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and an emphatic win in last season’s Champion Stakes.

This year, however, he arrives in Berkshire off the back of a King George defeat, with Kalpana having reversed placings in this year’s midsummer showpiece, and the nagging concern is that his trainer will have left a bit to work on fitness wise this weekend after a three-month absence, with a defence of his Japan Cup title the priority.

Rated 130, he still commands huge respect and has a big chance of landing a seventh Group One should he bring his A-game. Christophe Soumillon rides for the first time, with regular rider Mickael Barzalona suspended.

4 DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

T: John and Thady Gosden. J: Robert Havlin. OR: 109. Best odds: 150-1.

The four-year-old showed he was capable of winning at Stakes level when finishing second to Gethin in the Magnolia Stakes in April, but the poor boy looks set to serve as Ombudsman’s pacemaker for a fourth time here.

5 HOTAZHELL

T: Jessica Harrington. J: Shane Foley. OR: 119. Best odds: 16-1.

The Too Darn Hot colt went winless in five starts last year, all at Group One level, but he arrives at Ascot in the form of his life having won two Group Ones by a nose; the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis - Bayerisches Zuchtrennen, and the Irish Champion Stakes at 50-1.

Although Leopardstown runner-up Wimbledon Hawkeye has subsequently won the Prix Dollar on Arc weekend, more will be needed here in a tougher race, but he is ground versatile having also won the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster in heavy ground at two, and he is gutsy and tough.

This will be his first trip to Ascot and first run in Britain since the 2025 Coral-Eclipse, with connections having opted for the Arc over this race last year where he failed to stay, though he may have been outclassed in any case. This will also be the final run of his career before he is retired to stud.

6 OMBUDSMAN

T: John and Thady Gosden. J: William Buick. OR: 132. Best odds: 5-2.

The top-rated runner has produced some of his best performances at Ascot, having won the last two editions of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in impressive style.

Runner-up in this race 12 months ago, he has two and a quarter lengths to make up with the re-opposing Calandagan, but circumstances are different this time around in that the French superstar has has an interrupted campaign with defeats at Epsom and in the King George either side of a Group One win.

It has not been totally smooth sailing for Ombudsman either, who after winning his first three starts of the season, which culminated in a wide margin defeat of Minnie Hauk, Daryz and Almaqam at the Royal meeting, could only manage fourth in the Juddmonte International when last seen.

Granted a clearer run, faster ground conditions and a different ride, and he would have almost certainly finished significantly closer to the winner at York, and he is expected to fare much better back at his favourite track. He possesses a devastating turn of foot, so the faster the ground on Saturday, the better his chance.

7 MINNIE HAUK

T: Aidan O’Brien. OR: 119. Best odds: 50-1.

Last year’s three-time Group One winner and Arc runner-up began the season with a comfortable Group Two success but has failed to get her head in front since and looks up against it here.

However, she did manage a creditable second over this course and distance in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, four lengths behind Ombudsman, and ran on well from the rear to finish third behind Kalpana in the Yorkshire Oaks, so she has place claims on the best of her form.

She could only manage tenth in the Arc when last seen, though the steady pace was unlikely to have suited her, and, like runner-up Bay City Roller, she faces a relatively quick turnaround should she line up here.

8 CONSTITUTION RIVER

T: Aidan O’Brien. OR: 123. Best odds: 12-1.

Ballydoyle’s Prix du Jockey Club winner was an emphatic winner of the Coral-Eclipse over this distance, but he looks set to be stepped down in trip to contest the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes having been supplemented for the mile contest on Monday morning.

9 GSTAAD

T: Aidan O’Brien. OR: 125. Best odds: 8-1.

Gstaad (left) will not have Bow Echo, Erdenali, Ten Bob Tony or Opera Ballo to worry about at Ascot, but will face a fresh cast of rivals over a new trip. (Pic: focusonracing.com)

With Constitution River looking almost certain to step down in trip, it looks as if Gstaad will swap and be stepped up in trip for this race.

Exclusively campaigned over a mile this year, the son of Starspangledbanner is out of an Exceed And Excel mare – not a pedigree that screams middle-distance on the face of it, but he has looked in need of a stronger test of stamina this season, despite the fact he ran Champion Miler Bow Echo to a short-head in the St James’s Palace Stakes and finished second to that same rival in the Sussex when suffering a cut to his leg.

He looked outpaced when third in the Prix du Moulin last time, and such is the three-year-old’s consistency, that was the first time he had finished outside of the first two in eleven starts.

Faster ground conditions will clearly aid his chance, but this is a stiff mile and a quarter test and the nagging concern is that he will still be vulnerable to stronger stayers.

10 HAWK MOUNTAIN

T: Aidan O’Brien. OR: 116. Best odds: 66-1.

Last season’s Futurity winner finished a fine second to Constitution River in the Prix du Jockey Club in May and then finished third in the Eclipse, but he has found life tougher in his two starts since Sandown.

Not ridden to best effect when setting the pace for his Classic-winning stablemate in the Juddmonte International, he only beat one home in the Irish Champion Stakes and is yet to prove he is up to this level at three.

11 ISAAC NEWTON

T: Aidan O’Brien. OR: 110. Best odds: 150-1.

Last seen coming home last of the finishers in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein two weeks ago, he is yet to contest a Group One at three.

He won a strongly-run Desmond Stakes over a mile in August and is capable of landing further Group Three honours if things drop right, but given he has also been beaten in two Listed races, two Group Threes and two Group Twos this season, he looks out of his depth in a race of this calibre. A pacemaking role may well await.

VERDICT

Alex Scott

Ombudsman

16:00 Ascot

T: John & Thady Gosden

It is an unusual Champion Stakes in that, despite being full of quality with eight individual Group One winners, just one arrives at Ascot off the back of a win. I am sticking with OMBUDSMAN, already advised for this race, who can show his class back at Ascot after things did not pan out favourably at York last time. His potent turn of foot can see him go one place better this year, ahead of the improving Bay City Roller and the defending champion Calandagan.

1 OMBUDSMAN. 2 BAY CITY ROLLER. 3 CALANDAGAN.

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