British Champions Day 2025: Champion Sprint Stakes analysis and preview 

Ascot racecourse hosts Britain’s richest raceday, as 2025 British Champions Day will see history made and champions crowned. 

Five Group One races highlight the seven-race card, on a day that will see racing’s elite go head-to-head for one final time this flat season. 

Run over a fast and furious six furlongs, the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes awards 500,000 in prize money and will see the season’s quickest horses battle it out for the title of Britain’s top sprinter.

Owners Wathnan Racing dominate the front of the market, with a trio of horses running in their silks taking up three of the first four in the betting. 

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Flora Of Bermuda

Last year’s winning rider James Doyle seems certain to pilot any one of those three fancied horses, as he bids to become the first jockey since Wayne Lordan – in 2013 and 2014 – to win this race in back-to-back seasons. 

Flora Of Bermuda is at 9/1, though this will likely concern two of their shorter-priced runners, as Lazzat spearheads the market at 7/2, whilst Kind Of Blue is the co-second favourite at 11/2. 

The former is trained by Andrew Balding, who has enjoyed a season that sees him sit second in the British Trainer Championship standings.

She is a four-year-old filly that is winless since taking a Group Three in July last year, though she did finish third in this race last season. 

Her current owners picked her up following her seasonal reappearance, where she finished second – behind Inisherin – who is also in the betting (20/1), in a Group Two race. 

She has since placed third – behind Kind Of Blue and Lazzat – in the Betfair Sprint Cup and in the Queen Elizabeth II stakes, at Royal Ascot. 

Lazzat

Lazzat has won two of his five races this season – the first of which came in a French Listed race. 

It was the second of two runs in France that opened his 2025 campaign, with the highlight of his season following – his win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. 

He defeated the well-backed Satano Reve, a Japanese Group One winner, but has been a beaten-favourite in two subsequent starts, which were both at Group One level. 

A second-placed effort on a visit back to France preceded a tame effort in defeat at Haydock, whilst Kind Of Blue finished second – last season’s British Champion Sprint Stakes winner. 

It was his final run of a season in which he finished second in the Betfair Sprint Cup, placed third in two Group Three races and finished fourth in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. 

He is yet to win this season and opened his campaign with two poor runs at Newcastle and Chantilly, before bouncing back to form with a third-placed effort at The Curragh – which preceded his second-placed effort in the Betfair Sprint Cup.  

Big Mojo

It was a race which was won by Big Mojo, the horse that is the chief threat to Wathnan-trio in this race, according to the market. 

That effort saw trainer Michael Appleby’s gelding make his breakthrough success this campaign, after enduring a season of consistency – despite not winning. 

He began his 2025 campaign with a fourth-placed finish in a Group Two – at Haydock – following almost a year off the track, 

His subsequent Royal Ascot seventh was followed by a second-placed finish in the July Cup at Newmarket, before the Bettfair Sprint Cup –  in which he defeated Lazzat – saw a marked return to form. 

The three-year-old sprung a surprise at 18/1 odds, as it was preceded by a fifth-placed finish in a Group Two race at Glorious Goodwood. 

After that Haydock victory, Appleby said: “We were disappointed with his last run at Goodwood and there were a lot of question marks by his name, but we put it down to the ground. 

“He’s gone and proved he’s still at the top.”

His owner, Paul Teasdale, added: “We knew we just needed another July Cup performance when we were only inches away from winning. 

“We knew he was capable; we’ve just hit the bar a couple times and been unlucky.”

Montassib

Montassib is the third horse priced at 11/2 in the betting, as he bids to claim his second Group One victory. 

Trainer William Haggas’ seven-year-old produced a fifth-placed effort in the race last season, which was his final run of the year. 

Last season saw him compete in Group company for the first time in his career and it saw him go on to claim a Group Three race win at Newcastle, before winning the Betfair Sprint Cup.

He returned from almost a year off the track to finish third in a Group Three race at Newbury, as he bids to reverse the form with Kind Of Blue and Flora Of Bermuda to become his trainer’s second winner of the British Champion Sprint Stakes. 

Haggas alluded to the plan prior to Montassib’s comeback run, when he told the Racing Post: “He (Montassib) is ready for his comeback and it will be nice to get him out with a view to going back to Ascot.”

Art Of Power

The 2023 winner of this race – Art Of Power – is the only remaining horse (under 20/1) yet to be mentioned. 

Trainer Tim Easterby’s gelding is now an eight-year-old and has failed to hit the highs of his win in this race two years ago. 

He has won one of his three runs this season, which came in a Group Three race at The Curragh, on his latest start, beating King Cuan – who is 20/1 to win this race. 

It was the third of three races this season, all of which have been at the Irish course, but he placed fourth and 10th on those other two outings. 

A 13th-placed effort in this race last year, ended a disappointing season in which he finished in the top three only once in nine races. 

That came in a Group Two race at Glorious Goodwood, where he finished second – ahead of the 2022 British Champion Sprint Stakes winner Kinross.  

He is the last of the main contenders, according to the market, with both Inisherin and King Cuan next – at 20/1. 

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