Champion Stakes (British Champions Middle Distance)

With £1.3m in prize money, the QIPCO Champion Stakes over 1 mile 2 furlongs (2,000 metres) will be the most valuable horse race even run in Britain.

Following on from iconic races like the Investec Derby (which at £1.25m is now the second most valuable race in the country) and King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes sponsored by Betfair (which at £1m is the joint-third most valuable British Flat race), this will be the final, pulsating showdown in the QIPCO British Champions Series Middle Distance category.

The race brings a great heritage from Newmarket, where it was run from its inception in 1877 until last year. But the dramatic injection in prize money (last year’s race was worth £350,000) that has accompanied its move to become the glittering highlight of the new QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot is set to change its status completely. Now it can compete in financial terms on flat racing’s international stage.

Open to any horse aged three years or older, the QIPCO Champion Stakes is sure to be high in the thoughts of one owner, trainer and jockey in particular as the season unfolds. Prince Khalid Abdulla, one of flat racing’s greatest patrons over several decades, legendary Newmarket trainer Henry Cecil and his stable jockey, Tom Queally, have been in the Newmarket winner’s enclosure after each of the last two runnings of the race, thanks to Twice Over. Only once has a horse won it three times and that occurred back in 1882-84 when Tristan registered a hat-trick.

Current leading jockeys: Richard Hills, 2 wins (2001, 2004)

Christophe Lemaire, 2 wins (2006, 2007)

Tom Queally, 2 wins (2009, 2010)

Current leading trainer: Henry Cecil, 4 wins (1988, 1996, 2009, 2010).