Champion Stakes

the QIPCO Champion Stakes at 17.05 CET is the big race of the day and has been the highest-rated race in the world for the past two seasons. Star of the show is the French-trained 8yo gelding Cirrus des Aigles (Corinne Barbe-Balande/ Christophe Soumillon), who won here in 2011 and has been runner-up in the two years since - in 2012 to the great Frankel. He was controversially disqualified after winning the Dollar (for the third time) a fortnight ago, but he loves soft ground - the heavier the better- and will be hard to beat here. At the time of writing it is unclear whether Free Eagle (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen) will take him on, but if he does he will be a serious danger. Weld is worried about the very soft ground, but this very lightly-raced 3yo is potentially a world-beater. Noble Mission (Jane Cecil/ James Doyle), Frankel´s brother, will like the ground and is next best bjut we cannot imagine that his Munich form (second to Lucky Lion) would be good enough here. Ruler of the World (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien)- last year´s Derby winner- and Al Kazeem (Roger Charlton/ George Baker) have both run unplaced in the last two Arcs, but Western Hymn (John Gosden/ William Buick) seems more likely to be involved in today´s finish than they are. We hope Free Eagle runs and if he does so, he will give Cirrus des Aigles a real fight, but otherwise the French horse should win this easily enough.