British Champions Day 2025: Queen Elizabeth II Stakes analysis and preview 

British Champions Day gets underway this weekend and with it comes the five Group One races that highlight a day in which 2025’s Champions are crowned. 

Racing’s elite will descend on Ascot’s hallowed turf to play their part in Britain’s richest raceday, which will see over £4m awarded in prize money. 

Race five on the card is the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, due off at 3:25pm, on Saturday, October 18. 

Staged over Ascot’s straight mile, the race is one of the world’s premier mile races, attracting elite milers from across Europe in a showdown for divisional supremacy.

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Field Of Gold

This year’s renewal sees the juddomonte-owned star Field Of Gold head the betting at 6/4, to win the top share of prize money worth £1.1m. 

He has won three of his five starts this season, opening his account on seasonal reappearance when winning a Group Three race at Newmarket. 

The aftermath of his subsequent defeat in the 2000 Guineas saw jockey Kieran Shoemark replaced by Colin Keane in the saddle, with Keane going on to ride the colt to victory in the Irish equivalent three weeks later. 

A commanding Royal Ascot win – in the St James’s Palace Stakes – followed before a disappointing run in the Sussex Stakes, at Glorious Goodwood, saw him finish fourth, despite trading as the 1/3 favourite. 

Improved

It was a race that saw his perceived pacemaker Qirat surge to victory and spring a surprise at a huge 150/1 odds. 

Field Of Gold is set to make his return to a racecourse for the first time since that run, with his trainer John Gosden saying: “Field Of Gold’s condition has improved and he’s back doing one canter and seems happy in himself. 

“The residual filling that he had in a joint has cleared up and hopefully we have a clear run with him into the autumn.”

Lion In Winter & Diego Velazquez

Leading Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien has a trio of Ballydoyle runners still entered into the race, spearheaded by the Irish Champion Stakes winner Delacroix. 

At 12/1, it appears unlikely that the O’Brien star will race on Saturday as his form is notable, following a season where he has won two Group One races and finished second in another. 

The Lion In Winter and Diego Velazquez are the other two O’Brien runners still entered in the race – both priced at 16/1. 

The former was the ante-post favourite for the Epsom Derby – prior to defeat in the Dante Stakes – and has finished third in two French Group Ones from four subsequent races, including the Derby, where he finished 14th (Delacroix ninth). 

Diego Velazquez broke his Group One maiden tag in his penultimate run, by winning in France. 

It was his second win of the season, following a win in a Group Two race at The Curragh and a ninth-placed finish in the Queen Anne Stakes – won by Docklands – at Royal Ascot. 

Trainer Harry Eustace’s five-year-old defeated Rosallion, who is the second-favourite for this race – at 14/1 odds, to win what is still his only race of the season. 

That Royal Ascot victory was preceded by a second-placed effort in a Listed race at the same course, as well as a third-placed finish in a Group Three at Epsom. 

Rosallion

Docklands is 12/1 for this race, following two defeats in Group One races – the first in the Sussex Stakes (Field Of Gold ahead) and then in France (won by Diego Velazquez). 

The aforementioned Rosallion has endured a season of near misses, no more than in the Queen Anne when nosed out at the post by Docklands. 

A third-placed finish, in a Group Three at Newbury, on his seasonal reappearance preceded that Ascot defeat, whilst that run was the loss was also the first of two back-to-back second-placed finishes – the latter came in the Sussex Stakes. 

Two more defeats, both in Group One company, followed – the first at York and second at Longchamp. 

His trainer, Richard Hannon, sounded optimistic of Rosallion’s chances, when he said: “It doesn’t look like there’s much rain around, if any, and we’re delighted with that.

“Sean Levey rode him this morning and he was delighted with him. He’ll have another blow on Wednesday, but the work is done now really.”

The Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum-owned colt is trading as the 5/1 second favourite to give his trainer his first win in the race since 2019. 

Fallen Angel

Fallen Angel comes next in the betting at 6/1, following a hat-trick of wins in his latest three runs – all three were Group One events for fillies. 

They make up three of the five runs she has had this campaign, after she began her season with a sixth-placed finish in the Lockinge Stakes and a third-placed finish in an Ascot Group Two race for fillies.

Running in the colours of Wathnan Racing, she aims to give her trainer Karl Burke his first Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner. 

After her latest win, jockey James Doyle said: “We are lucky to have her at Wathnan and she’s tough as nails. 

“She likes to go forward and with a strong tailwind out there it suited her and she wasn’t for passing.

“We’ve minded her as she must have some cut in the ground and running on quick ground at Royal Ascot didn’t play to her strengths. 

“Hopefully it will be the same at Ascot in a couple of weeks’ time.”

Trainer Andrew Balding’s Never So Brave is the other shorter priced challenger in the betting, with the gelding trading at 10/1 following a fine season. 

A second-placed finish, in a Class Two Handicap, preceded three consecutive victories, two of them in Group company – the latest a Group One.

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