Dubai: Addeybb destroyed his rivals with pace and staying power to win the Group 1 Champion Stakes the feature race at British Champions Day, the finale of the 2020 flat racing season at Ascot yesterday.
With Tom Marquand riding a supremely confident race aboard the six-year-old who raced in the famous yellow silks of Major General Sheikh Ahmad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police and Public Security, Addeybb proved that he is every bit a globe-trotting superstar.
Second in this race last season, the winner tracked the pace for the early part of the mile and one furlong trip before finding a superior set of gears to pull away from his challengers for a very, very impressive victory.
The 9/1 winner blazed across the line two-and-a-quarter lengths clear of French raider Skalleti (13/2) with 15/8 favourite Magical, last year’s winner, hanging on for third.
Addeybb, who landed a pair of Group 1 contests during a successful spring campaign in Australia, was claiming maiden British Group 1 victory while gifting Shaikh Ahmad a first success in the much sought-after Champions Stakes.
Credit to team
“What a credit to the whole team at home,” Marquand told ITV Racing. “He’s gone to Australia and conquered Down Under and now he’s come back and got his Group 1 here. He deserved that so much because he’s been knocking on the door and shows he’s a champion but never had his day. Now he’s got it.
“He travelled like a true good horse throughout the race and when I started getting going at the bottom of the straight it’s remarkable because he goes over ground as bad as you can get and makes it feel like quick ground. That’s why he’s so good on it.”
Winning handler William Haggas added: “He’s a marvellous horse and he was really up for it today. He was fantastic and I’m absolutely thrilled for everyone. That was great.
“He was in a great position and he stays, he’s tough. He loved the ground and loves it here too.”
With a prize fund of £1.3 million, the Champion Stakes was Britain’s richest horse race until 2011 when its status was reclaimed by The Epsom Derby in 2012.
Earlier in the afternoon, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai was denied a victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) when 8/11 favourite Palace Pier lost his near-fore shoe midway through the race which seriously compromised his chances.
He still managed to finish third as French raider, The Revenant, narrowly won the contest from Roseman, a neck separating the pair at the line.
Roseman represented Epsom Derby-winning owner Shaikh Obaid Al Maktoum.
Epic meeting
It was an epic meeting for Marquand and his girlfriend Hollie Doyle who between them won four out of the six races at the meeting.
British Champions Day signals the end of the flat racing season and is considered one of the major highlights on the calendar.
It is also the culmination of the British Champions Series and features the finals of the five divisions of the.
It is by far the richest day in British racing, with more than £4 million in prize money on offer across the six glittering races.
