Champion Stakes

For the American race of the same name, see: Champion Stakes (United States)

Group 1 race
Champion Stakes
Location	Rowley Mile Newmarket, England
Inaugurated	1877
Race type	Flat / Thoroughbred
Sponsor	Emirates Airline
Website	Newmarket
Race information
Distance	1m 2f (2,012 metres)
Track	Turf, straight
Qualification	Three-years-old and up
Weight	8 st 12 lb (3yo); 9 st 3 lb (4yo+) Allowances 3 lb for fillies and mares
Purse	£350,000 (2009) 1st: £213,739

The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in October.

The event was established in 1877, and the inaugural running was won by Springfield. By the end of the century it had been won by five previous Classic winners. One of these, Ormonde, had a starting price of 1/100 (a £100 bet would have won £1).

The Champion Stakes is now one of Britain's leading open-age races of the autumn. It became part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series in 2009, and the winner now earns an automatic invitation to compete in the Breeders' Cup Turf. ^[1]

The race is currently staged during Champions' Day – the second day of Newmarket's two-day Champions' Meeting.

Records

Most successful horse (3 wins):

• Tristan – 1882, 1883, 1884

Leading jockey (6 wins):

• Danny Maher – Osboch (1901), Pretty Polly (1905), Polymelus (1906), Llangwm (1908), Bayardo (1909), Lemberg (1910)
• Charlie Elliott – Ellangowan (1923), Asterus (1927), Goyescas (1931), Djeddah (1949), Dynamiter (1951, 1952)

Leading trainer (8 wins):

• Alec Taylor, Jr. – Sceptre (1903), Bayardo (1909), Lemberg (1910, 1911), Gay Crusader (1917), My Dear (1918), Buchan (1919), Picaroon (1925)

Leading owner (6 wins):

• HH Aga Khan III – Rustom Pasha (1930), Dastur (1933, dead-heat), Umidwar (1934), Nasrullah (1943), Migoli (1947), Hafiz (1955)

Winners since 1967

Earlier winners

* The 1933 race was a dead-heat and has joint winners.

References

• Racing Post:
  • 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
  • 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
  • 2008, 2009

• galopp-sieger.de – Champion Stakes.
• horseracingintfed.com – International Federation of Horseracing Authorities – Champion Stakes (2009).
• pedigreequery.com – Champion Stakes – Newmarket.
• The Breedon Book of Horse Racing Records. Breedon Books. 1993. p. 212. ISBN 1-873626-15-0. 

See also

• Horseracing in Great Britain
• List of British flat horse races