Star Catcher (nearside)© Photo Healy Racing
Anapurna and Star Catcher, winners of the English and Irish Oaks respectively, give John Gosden a formidable hand in the Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
Both have shown their well-being recently, with Star Catcher taking the Prix Vermeille on her last start and Anapurna the Prix de Royallieu.
O’Brien is responsible for four of the 10 runners — Delphinia, Fleeting, Pink Dogwood and South Sea Pearl — while Dermot Weld provides the other Irish-trained runner in Tarnawa, in a race that will be live on Sky Sports Racing.
The last three winners of the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes — Sands Of Mali, Librisa Breeze and The Tin Man — are going for glory again after all 17 five-day entries were declared for the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes.
Star three-year-olds Advertise, successful in the Commonwealth Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest, and Hello Youmzain, winner of Haydock’s Sprint Cup, have headed the ante-post betting with dual Prix de la Foret victor One Master.
Make A Challenge is doing just that for Irish trainer Denis Hogan after being supplemented for £40,000 following an impressive victory at the Curragh on Sunday.
Others in the mix include Brando, Cape Byron, Donjuan Triumphant, Dream Of Dreams and Mabs Cross.
The Gosden-trained Lord North, emphatic winner of the Cambridgeshire, tops the weights for the Balmoral Handicap for which a maximum field of 20 was declared plus three reserves.
