QIPCO British Champions Day 2012 Media Guide - Ascot Racecourse

The Queen could be represented in the race named in her honour by the 2011 Derby third
Carlton House while Cityscape, brilliant winner of the Dubai Duty Free in March and second to
Excelebration at Deauville, is set to take on that rival once again.
The one remaining filly is the ultra-consistent Elusive Kate from the John Gosden stable who
was third to Excelebration and Cityscape at Deauville.
FILLIES AND MARES
Dancing Rain was an impressive winner on QIPCO British Champions Day in 2011 when
making all the running to land the inaugural £250,000 QIPCO British Champions Fillies And
Mares Stakes over a mile and a half. The four-year-old Danehill Dancer filly, who also won last
season's Investec Oaks for trainer William Haggas, has been absent with injury so far in the
current campaign but is firmly on course to defend her crown at Ascot on October 20.
Liam Norris, who purchased Dancing Rain and oversees the racing interests of owners Martin
and Lee Taylor, revealed: "The QIPCO British Champions Fillies And Mares Stakes is where we
want to go with Dancing Rain and she is on target for the race.
"She had two small chips removed from both front fetlock joints earlier in the season. She came
back to me after that and we nursed her back through. She did really well.
"She looks fantastic now and is a big, strong filly - much bigger than she was last year.
"We were going to go to York with her which was her aim but she just had a couple of niggly
muscle issues that shoved her back a little. We just had to go steady with her.
"We took her to Kempton last week and gave her a spin. She worked with Beaten Up and blew
for 25 minutes afterwards so she needed it. But she is in good form now and we are keeping
everything crossed that we will have her at Ascot on October 20.
"She might be a bit rusty but she likes the track and won the race last year."
Also among the 24 acceptors for the £250,000 QIPCO British Champions Fillies And Mares
Stakes are this season's Investec Oaks heroine Was as well as impressive Irish Oaks scorer
Great Heavens, who is a full-sister to Nathaniel, Princess Highway, who scored over the
course and distance in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, and the in-form Wild Coco.
LONG DISTANCE
A cracking contest is in store for the opening race on QIPCO British Champions Day, the
£200,000 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup over two miles.
The 25 acceptors for this contest include last season's victor Fame And Glory, plus the winners
of four contests in the Stayer Category this season - Colour Vision (Gold Cup at Royal Ascot),
Saddler's Rock (Artemis Goodwood Cup) and Times Up (Weatherbys Insurance Lonsdale Cup
and Stobart Doncaster Cup). If Times Up were to succeed, it would bring down the curtain
perfectly on the career of John Dunlop, who retires at the end of the season.
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