• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

BettingSites.co

Betting Sites - Best UK Online Bookmakers & Sports Betting Websites

  • Home
  • Top 10
  • New Sites
  • Free Bets
  • Bookmakers
  • Sports
    • American Football
    • Athletics
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Boxing
    • Cricket
    • Darts
    • Football
    • Formula 1
    • Golf
    • Greyhound Racing
    • Horse Racing
    • Ice Hockey
    • Rugby
    • Snooker
    • Tennis
    • UFC/MMA
  • Tips
  • Banking
  • Articles

Champion Stakes: Past Winners, Stats & History

QIPCO British Champions Day
Course:
Ascot
Flat Course
Grade:
Group 1
Length:
1m 2f
Last Winner:
Bay Bridge @ 10/1
Prize Money:
£1,300,000 (2022)

British Champions Day at Ascot closes the curtain on the flat racing season in the UK. Several top-class events are scheduled including this race, the highly anticipated British Champion Stakes. The incredibly lucrative event is famously the one in which the unbeaten Frankel made his last ever competitive appearance in 2012.

Dating back to 1877, this race was run at Newmarket until the creation of the British Champions Day in 2011 when it became the country’s most valuable horse race. The Epsom Derby has edged ahead in the meantime, although in 2020 and 2021 the Champion Stakes had the biggest prize fund of any British race in those years.

Champion Stakes Course Map (Flat Course)

Ascot Flat Course Map

The 1m 2f Champion Stakes begins on the western section of Ascot's triangular shaped course. Runners take two right-hand turns before entering the straight and approach the winning post.

Champion Stakes Past Winners

Year Winner SP Trainer Jockey
2022 Bay Bridge 10/1 Sir Michael Stoute Richard Kingscote
2021 Sealiway 12/1 Cedric Rossi Mickael Barzalona
2020 Addeybb 9/1 William Haggas Tom Marquand
2019 Magical Evens Aidan O'Brien Donnacha O'Brien
2018 Cracksman 5/6 John Gosden Frankie Dettori
2017 Cracksman 13/8 John Gosden Frankie Dettori
2016 Almanzor 11/8 Jean-Claude Rouget Christophe Soumillon
2015 Fascinating Rock 10/1 Dermot Weld Pat Smullen
2014 Noble Mission 7/1 Jane Cecil James Doyle
2013 Farhh 11/4 Saeed bin Suroor Silvestre De Sousa
2012 Frankel 2/11 Sir Henry Cecil Tom Queally
2011 Cirrus Des Aigles 12/1 Corine Barande-Barbe Christophe Soumillon
2010 Twice Over 7/2 Henry Cecil Tom Queally
2009 Twice Over 14/1 Henry Cecil Tom Queally
2008 New Approach 6/5 Jim Bolger Kevin Manning
2007 Literato 7/2 Jean-Claude Rouget Christophe Lemaire
2006 Pride 7/2 Alain de Royer-Dupre Christophe Lemaire
2005 David Junior 25/1 Brian Meehan Jamie Spencer
2004 Haafhd 12/1 Barry Hills Richard Hills
2003 Rakti 11/1 Michael Jarvis Philip Robinson

About the British Champion Stakes

Horse Race at Ascot
John Mitchell, flickr

The Triple Crown has always been the Holy Grail of flat racing. Every trainer and owner dreams of having a horse who has the pace to combination of pace and stamina required to win the 1,000 or 2,000 Guineas, the Oaks or the Derby and the St Leger, but practicality dictates that flat racing is a specialist endeavour now.

Although there is a thriving stayers’ division, many of the very best and most expensively bought horses in racing stick to the lucrative middle distances. That much is clear by the quality of the fields assembled each year for the Champion Stakes, a race which plays the role of the final of the Middle Distance division of the British Champion Series.

ALWAYS A KEY MIDDLE DISTANCE CONTEST

The impressive history of the Champion Stakes begins in 1877. Then run at Newmarket, the race wasted no time in catching the attention of racing fans and the wider sporting public as it was won by a number of Classic winners in those early years.

The Champion Stakes continued with its impressive early pace and the one mile, two furlong contest quickly became one of the most important and lucrative races of the entire flat racing season. With winners of the calibre of Pretty Polly, Fairway and Rockfel before the introduction of the current grading system, it was no surprise that it became a Group 1 straightaway in 1971.

Not only has it remained at the top level since but the Champion Stakes has actually had its reputation boosted in more recent years. It was included in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge in 2009 and 2010 with an invitation into the Breeders’ Cup Turf for the winner and then became part of the new British Champions Series in 2011.

The Champion Stakes is now the final race in the Middle Distance Series after the Coronation Cup, the Epsom Derby, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Eclipse Stakes, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the International Stakes.

Chart Showing the Value of the British Champions Series Middles Distance Races in 2022

The importance of the race was hammered home with the increase in the prize fund to £1,300,000 in 2011 which saw the Champion Stakes become the richest flat race in Britain, an accolade that has been passed between the Epsom Derby and this contest since.

FRANKEL’S LAST STAND

The middle distance ranks of flat racing has always included big stars. Some are bigger than others though and for many racing fans Frankel is the best of the lot. The superstar signed his three-year-old season off with victory on British Champions Day in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and then returned a year later to end his career with another win in the Champion Stakes.

Frankel’s retirement to stud meant that he never got the chance to defend the Champion Stakes but it’s a feat which has been achieved before. Tristan is the only three time winner with victories in 1882, 1883 and 1884 although two of those wins were dead heats.

In total, 13 horses have won the Champion Stakes more than once. Two of those on the list, Lemberg and Dynamiter, were ridden by either one of the race’s most successful jockeys, Danny Maher and Charlie Elliott. Maher’s six wins all came inside an incredible decade at the beginning of the 20th century, whilst Elliott’s six triumphs range from 1923 to 1952. If it’s unlikely that either jockey will have their record beaten then it’s nigh on impossible that any trainer will surpass Alec Taylor Jr’s tally of eight wins (recorded between 1903 and 1925).

MULTIPLE CHAMPION STAKES WINNING HORSES

Horse Trainer Years Won
Cracksman John Gosden 2017 2018
Twice Over Henry Cecil 2009 2010
Alborada Sir Mark Prescott 1998 1999
Triptych Patrick Biancone 1986 1987
Brigadier Gerard Dick Hern 1971 1972
Dynamiter Charles Semblat / J Glynn 1951 1952
Hippius Jack Jarvis 1940 1941
Wychwood Abbot Ted Leader 1935 1936
Fairway Frank Butters 1928 1929
Orpheus Felix Leach 1920 1921
Lemberg Alec Taylor Jr 1910 1911
Velasquez Charles Wood 1897 1899
Tristan Tom Jennings 1882 1883 1884

Other Races of Note at Ascot

  • Ascot Challenge Cup
  • Ascot Gold Cup
  • Ascot Silver Cup
  • Betfair Ascot Chase
  • British Champions Sprint Stakes
  • Champion Stakes
  • Clarence House Chase
  • Commonwealth Cup
  • Coronation Stakes
  • Coventry Stakes
  • Duke of Cambridge Stakes
  • Fillies & Mares Stakes
  • Hardwicke Stakes
  • King Edward VII Stakes
  • King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes
  • King’s Stand Stakes
  • Long Distance Cup
  • Long Walk Hurdle
  • Norfolk Stakes
  • Platinum Jubilee Stakes
  • Prince Of Wales’s Stakes
  • Queen Anne Stakes
  • Queen Elizabeth II Stakes
  • Queen Mary Stakes
  • Ribblesdale Stakes
  • St James’s Palace Stakes
  • Wokingham Stakes

Primary Sidebar

Sports Betting Guides

  • American Football
    • Super Bowl
  • Athletics
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Boxing
  • Cricket
  • Darts
    • BDO World Darts Championship
    • PDC World Darts Championship
    • PDC World Matchplay
  • Football
    • Football Articles
    • Premier League
    • Premier League Big Six
    • Championship
    • Football Cups
    • FA Cup
    • Champions League
    • World Cup
    • European Championships
    • Football Awards
    • English Football Teams & Leagues
    • Scottish Football Teams & Leagues
    • Irish Football Teams & Leagues
    • Welsh Football Teams & Leagues
  • Formula 1
    • Circuits
    • F1 Constructors Championship
    • F1 Drivers Championship
  • Golf
    • Golf Tournaments
    • The Open Championship
    • US Open Golf
    • The Masters
    • Ryder Cup
    • US PGA Championship
  • Greyhound Racing
    • Greyhound Racing Tracks
  • Horse Racing
    • Horse Racing Articles
    • Horse Races
    • Major Meetings
    • Horse Racing Fixtures
    • Racecourses
      • England
      • Ireland
      • Scotland
      • Wales
    • Horse Racing Series
    • Prize Money
    • Race Classes
      • Grade 1
      • Grade 2
      • Grade 3
      • Group 1
      • Group 2
      • Group 3
      • Handicaps
      • The Classics
  • Ice Hockey
  • MotoGP
  • Motorsport
    • MotoGP Circuits
  • Rugby
    • Super League
    • Six Nations
    • Rugby World Cup
  • Snooker
    • Masters Snooker
    • World Snooker Championship
    • UK Championship Snooker
  • Tennis
    • Wimbledon
    • US Open
    • French Open
    • Australian Open
  • UFC/MMA

Horse Racing Articles

  • What Is the Difference Between UK & Irish Racing?
  • How Many Grand Nationals Are There in the UK & Ireland?
  • What Are the Shortest Horse Races in the UK, Ireland & the World?
  • What Are the Longest Horse Races in the UK, Ireland & the World?
  • Two Year Old Racing: Famous Races, Race Types & Controversy
  • Horse Racing in Ireland: A Guide to Irish Horse Race Classifications
  • Has Any Horse Won All Five Classics?
  • Frankie Dettori's Magnificent Seven
  • Have Any Horses Won The Grand National More Than Once?
  • What's the Different Between Chases & Hurdles in Horse Racing?
  • Worlds Biggest Horse Races
  • Tic-Tac: The Bookies Secret Hand Signals Explained
  • Horse Racing Rule 4 Deductions Explained
  • Best Odds Guaranteed Explained
  • Picking Winners: How To Study Horse Racing Form
  • What is Totepool Betting?
  • The History of Horse Racing

Events By Country

  • Countries
  • UAE (Dubai & Abu Dhabi)
  • South Africa
  • India
  • New Zealand
  • France
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • USA
  • Ireland
  • UK
  • Saudi Arabia

Banking

  • Apple Pay
  • Bitcoin
  • Entropay
  • Neteller
  • PayPal
  • Paysafecard
  • Skrill

Popular Articles

  • Picking Winners: How To Study Horse Racing Form
  • Betting & Tax In The UK – Do I Have To Pay Tax On My Gambling Winnings?
  • Both Teams to Score & Goals Galore Explained
  • Multiples Betting Explained
  • Dead Heat Rules – What Happens In The Event Of A Tie?

Latest Articles

  • Horse Racing Fixtures
  • Scottish Racecourses
  • Welsh Racecourses
  • English Racecourses
  • Premier League Golden Boot
  • European Golden Shoe
  • Motorsport
  • Youghal Greyhound Stadium
  • Kilcohan Park Greyhound Stadium (Waterford)
  • Kingdom Greyhound Stadium (Tralee)

Recently Updated

  • Australian Open: Past Winners, Stats & History
  • Pegasus World Cup
  • Farmers Insurance Open
  • Cotswold Chase
  • Clarence House Chase
  • Best Online Bookies & List of UK High Street Bookmakers
  • The American Express
  • Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
  • DP World Tour Championship
  • Nedbank Golf Challenge
  • Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
  • Open de France
  • Italian Open
  • BMW PGA Championship
  • Omega European Masters
  • Irish Open
  • BMW International Open
  • Porsche European Open
  • Dutch Open
  • British Masters
Copyright © 2023 BettingSites.co | 18+ BeGambleAware

Disclaimer: Please note that the legality of betting online varies between countries and it is your responsibility to verify that your actions are legal in the country you reside. All offers subject to terms and conditions. Please gamble responsibly - if you feel you may have a problem and need advice please visit Gamble Aware (UK) or Gamblers Anonymous.