uk racing By Amy Bennett
B
RITISH CHAMPIONS DAY 2023 was billed beforehand as Frankie Dettori’s swansong, his final appearance at the racecourse with which his name is inextricably linked. The announcement that Dettori will not be retiring after all may have taken away some of the pre-event hype, but it did perhaps return the focus more fittingly to its equine participants – although the cheers still rang long and loud when Dettori booted home a pair of winners. Storm Babet made a valiant bid to steal the headlines but the meeting went ahead, albeit on soft ground and with three of the races run on the inner hurdles course. Given the deluge of pre-race rain, it was amazing that the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) and Juddmonte International (G1) victor Mostahdaf was the only high-profile nonrunner on the day. Did the ground affect the results? More than likely given the number of double digit-priced winners. But should that detract from any one of the day’s Group 1 winners. Absolutely not. From a bloodstock perspective, it is noteworthy that all bar one of the day’s Group winners were sired by stallions outside of the top ten sires in Europe by prize-money, heading into the day. Yeomanstown Stud’s Dark Angel, lying in eighth place among the leading sires in
It was a rain-sodden British Champions Day, but the racing, King Of Steel and Frankie Dettori ignited the crowd
Steel success 22
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