Coral look at Aidan O’Brien’s Champions Day chances

With Rhododendron and Seventh Heaven both pulled from this race, O’Brien’s hopes lay with Hydrangea. The 6/1 shot has been the bridesmaid to fellow stable star Winter on no new fewer than six occasions this season. However, recent form suggests she has a chance in this.

The daughter of Galileo landed the Group 1 Matron Stakes in September and followed that up with a narrow second in the Prix de l’Opera Longines.

Fellow O’Brien runner Wild Irish Rose is not expected to challenge and is rated as a 50/1 outsider.   

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

Contenders: Churchill, Lancaster Bomber, Sir John Lavery. 

The Coral News Team think that this is the race where O’Brien could equal Bobby Frankel’s record. Ribchester may be the market leader, but 4/1 shot Churchill is no slouch.

He has four Group 1 victories to his name, including both the Irish and the English 2,000 Guineas. And if there’s any sort of cut in the ground on Saturday afternoon, Churchill’s luck could well be in.

Lancaster Bomber and Sir John Lavery both have black-type experience but are unlikely to challenge at odds of 25/1.

Champion Stakes

Contenders: Highland Reel, Cliffs of Moher.  

O’Brien rounds off the Group 1 action with two lively chances in the Champion Stakes.

The five-year-old Highland Reel is an experienced runner and must not be dismissed at 8/1. In four runs this season the Irish-bred raider has only been beaten twice, and one of those defeats came on far from ideal ground.

Since that defeat at Meydan, the middle-distance star returned to land the Coronation Cup and Prince of Wales’s Stakes to add to an already impressive trophy cabinet. It won’t be easy up against Cracksman and Barney Roy, but you’d have to be a brave man to dismiss the thoroughbred.

Fellow O’Brien runner Cliffs of Moher is yet to impress at Group 1 level and is best avoided at odds of 9/1.

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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing