British Champions’ Day, the richest fixture in British racing history, will be introduced from 2011 and the meeting will offer more than £3 million of prize money.
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Racing’s stakeholders have come together to create the major new day, which will be hosted at Ascot on 15 October 2011. British Champions’ Day will feature the Champion Stakes, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Diadem Stakes, Jockey Club Cup and Pride Stakes, as well as a high profile Handicap.
Ascot’s prime location and capacity are viewed as important to help set the stage for British racing to create a larger and more prestigious climax to the premier Flat season for three year olds and upwards. The long-term aim is for this event to rank with the USA’s Breeders’ Cup and France’s Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe.
The new event will be heavily marketed and is seen as a crucial step towards broadening the appeal of the sport in Britain, whilst also attracting audiences from around the world. British Champions’ Day will be the culmination of a series of races showcasing the best of British Flat racing throughout the season.
Britain already stages many of the world’s top Flat contests and this will be communicated more effectively to a wider public by branding them British Champions’ Series races. Other sports have proved that successfully differentiating and marketing premier events can transform their popularity, with the benefits felt by the whole sport, including increased attendances, betting revenues, sponsorship and media rights value.
The Series will launch on Saturday 30 April 2011 with the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course and climax with British Champions’ Day at Ascot. It will comprise five separate championship categories, namely Sprint, Mile, Middle Distance, Long Distance and Fillies and Mares , featuring six of the highest-rated races in each category to create easy-to-follow storylines for a wider audience.
With a total prize money pot of more than £13 million, British Champions’ Series will be staged at ten of the UK’s leading racecourses: Ascot, Doncaster, Epsom Downs, Goodwood, Haydock Park, Newbury, Newmarket’s July Course, Newmarket’s Rowley Mile, Sandown Park and York. It will encompass British racing’s key festivals, including the Guineas Festival at Newmarket, the Epsom Derby Festival, Royal Ascot, the Newmarket July Festival, Glorious Goodwood, the Ebor Festival at York and the Doncaster St Leger Meeting.
