British Champions Day: Long Distance Cup analysis and preview 

British Champions Day beckons, as Ascot racecourse takes centre stage for one final time in the 2025 flat season. 

Five Group One races highlight the seven-race card, on a day that will see Champions crowned, history made and shares of prize money worth over £4m awarded. 

The British Long Distance Cup is the first Group One on the card – getting underway at 13:20pm, on Saturday, October 18. 

Two miles of Berkshire’s countryside will provide the ultimate stamina test for flat racing’s top stayers, as they go head-to-head for the final major long distance race of the season. 

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Trawlerman

This year’s renewal sees Trawlerman head the market, as he bids to continue his perfect season for joint father/son trainer John and Thady Gosden. 

The seven-year-old, Godolphin-owned gelding has won all three of his races on British turf this season, with his win in the Royal Ascot Gold Cup the showpiece in a superb season. 

Following his latest victory in York’s Lonsdale Cup, in which he beat stable-mate Sweet William, Gosden said: “We will freshen him up now and all being well, he will run one more time this year at Ascot on Champions Day.” 

Trawlerman is no stranger to this race, having contested in each of the last three renewals – with two third-placed efforts either side of his 2023 victory. 

He won’t face the challenge of three-time winner Trueshan or last year’s conqueror Kyprios, thus he is at the top of the market – trading at 4/6. 

Sweet William

Sweet William himself is also in the betting, although at 8/1 it appears unlikely that he will reverse the form with his star-teammate. 

The chief threat to the Gosden’s runners comes in the shape of last year’s Queen’s Vase winner Illinois, who trades at 4/1. 

He is one of a pair of colts representing leading Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien, with the Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel in at 5/1. 

The former opened this season with a win in the (Group Three) Ormonde Stakes, before going on to place second at Royal Ascot and second at Glorious Goodwood – behind stablemate Scandinavia. 

A poor run in the Irish St Leger followed and he will have to bounce back if he is to reverse the placings of last year’s St Leger, in which he finished second to Jan Brueghel, and this year’s Royal Ascot Gold Cup. 

Jan Brueghel

Jan Brueghel is also worthy of highlighting, having won five of his seven career starts – including the aforementioned Group One victories. 

O’Brien’s four-year-old challenger will make his first start since finishing fourth in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, at Royal Ascot, behind Calandagan – the horse he defeated in his Coronation Cup win at Epsom. 

His only other run this season was a second-placed effort in a Group Three race at The Curragh. 

Next in the betting comes Sibayan, who is a stablemate of Calandagan that runs in the same, renowned, Aga Khan silks. 

The French raider has enjoyed a busy campaign this year, since transferring from Jean-Claude Rouget’s yard to that of Francis Graffard’s and undergoing a gelding operation. 

He has won four of his six races this season, including three Group contests from which the highlight is a German Group One, on his latest outing. 

It was the four-year-old’s first race outside of France, as he prepares for his first race start outside of continental Europe. 

Sibayan

Sibayan is currently trading at 6/1, as his trainer looks to become the first Frenchman to win this race since Andre Fabre in 2007. 

Trainer Karl Burke’s Al Qareem follows – at 8/1 – in the betting, following a season in which he has won four of his seven starts. 

He ended last with back-to-back wins in a Group Three race at this course and in a Listed race at Chester, before winning four of his seven starts this year. 

A second-placed effort in the Ormonde Stakes followed a win on seasonal reappearance in a Listed race – which was preceded by two fruitless outings in France. 

Three wins from his next five starts followed, including at both Listed level and in Group company, though he finished behind Trawlerman and Sweet William at York. 

Of the others in the market, O’Brien’s Tennessee Stud is worthy of a mention, as is Hamish for trainer William Haggas. 

The former is French Group One winner, who won his latest start following a series of placed-efforts in other Group races. 

Hamish, meanwhile, was defeated by Al Qareem on his latest outing, though had won three in Listed races in a row, prior to that run and is a 20/1 shot to win this race. 

READ MORE: British Champions Day: Champions Stakes analysis and preview