Winner is elite British racing’s longest-priced victor
Cicero’s Gift follows up at 100-1 in Champions Sprint
Calandagan became only the second horse ever to win the King George and Champion Stakes in the same season at Ascot on Saturday, matching the achievement of the great Brigadier Gerard in 1972, but it was a very different moment of racing history that may stick longest in the memories of many racegoers at the track. When Qirat set a record for the longest-priced victory in a British Group One race with a 150-1 success in the Sussex Stakes in August, it seemed likely to remain unmatched for years if not decades, but instead his tenure as elite British racing’s unlikeliest winner lasted only until mid-October and Powerful Glory’s 200-1 win in the Champions Sprint.
It was the most astonishing result on a day that also saw a 100-1 success for Cicero’s Gift in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and unlike Qirat’s front-running success at Goodwood, where the jockeys on his rivals ignored an apparent pacemaker until it was too late, Powerful Glory came late with a perfectly timed challenge under Jamie Spencer.
The noise from the crowd had been building to a crescendo as Lazzat, the 2-1 favourite, hit the front inside the final furlong. After Spencer had edged out Lazzat by a neck, however, there was only the rustling of racecards as punters checked the winner’s identity and searched for anything in Powerful Glory’s form that might have hinted at such an unexpected success.
