Champions Day Highlights: Two Stunning Upsets at Ascot British Champions Day at Ascot delivered a stunning day of action on Saturday, including not one but two winners returning three-figure SPs! Aidan O'Brien was the only Irish handler to get on the scoresheet and Trawlerman proved himself the best stayer around. We're taking a look at the stories that caught the eye on Champions Day at Ascot. Odds defied by dazzling duo Powerful Glory had been well beaten in his two previous races this season, but that didn't prevent the Jamie Spencer-ridden star making history for trainer Richard Fahey in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes. Returning an SP of 200/1, Powerful Glory became the longest-priced winner of a top-level British Group 1 race, just three months after Qirat set a record by winning the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood at 150/1. Spencer came with a typical late challenge on the three-year-old and it was enough to get up and deny the favourite, Lazzat, by a neck. Incredibly, just over an hour later, Cicero's Gift came home in front under Jason Watson for trainer Charles Hills to land the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at 100/1. The Group 1 double would have rewarded punters with odds of 20,301/1. Calandagan wins Champion Stakes battle The French love-affair with the Qipco Champion Stakes continued as Calandagan fended off Ombudsman to win the big race. Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard and ridden by Mickael Barzalona, Calandagan was more than two lengths too strong at the finish for the John & Thady Gosden runner, adding to his success in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July. Much of the pre-race talk was on the third instalment of the Ombudsman vs Delacroix rivalry, but Aidan O'Brien's charge was only fourth as that duel failed to materialise. It was another big victory in the Aga Khan's colours for Graffard and Barzalona, who won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with Daryz two weeks ago. Kalpana scores under ice-cool Keane Colin Keane may be in danger of losing his Irish jockeys' crown this season, but his new job as retained rider for Juddmonte is proving worth it. He won the Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes on Kalpana for trainer Andrew Balding in fine style. Keane kept things simple by sitting close to the early pace and he turned the screw on the field as they exited Swinley Bottom. After a season that featured some near misses in high-class company, it was a big ending for Kalpana in bagging successive renewals of this Ascot Group 1. "It was very important for her because she's been knocking on the door all year," said Keane. "Things didn't go right for her in the Arc, but Andrew and the team thought she was well, so they rolled the dice. Bar the last day, she's gone down on her sword every time this year." O'Brien lands Conditions win with Mission Central Aidan O'Brien was out of luck in the Group 1s, with The Lion In Winter (second) in the QEII his best effort, but the Ballydoyle supremo didn't leave Ascot empty-handed. The newly-introduced Qipco British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes went the way of Mission Central under Christophe Soumillon, with Ardisia in second for Hugo Palmer and hot-favourite and previous Group 2 scorer Words Of Truth fading to finish third. The day got underway with the Long Distance Cup, a contest in which Ascot Gold Cup winner Trawlerman defied a drift in the betting to prevail for William Buick, leading home stablemate Sweet William in a one-two for the Gosdens.
