Anmaat stuns hot favourite Calandagan with 40-1 win on memorable Champions Day at Ascot
JIM CROWLEY loved it… and so did the bookies.
The former champion jockey let out a roar of delight as Anmaat caused a huge 40-1 upset in the Champion Stakes.
It was a result few saw coming, but confident Crowley grinned: “This was no fluke.”
Given the way the horse exploded impressively through a narrow gap on testing ground to mow down Calandagan, one of the top three-year-old’s in Europe, it’s hard to argue.
But it was also about as messy a Group 1 race as has been run in the UK all season.
The field bunched up on the turn for home and the bumping and barging that followed in the straight was more like something you’d see at Twickenham, not Ascot.
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It was an especially rough race for French star Calandagan, who lost ground at the start and, from his inside draw in stall one, was boxed in with nowhere to go for the majority of the race.
He finally managed to thread the eye of a needle with just over a furlong to run, but Crowley and the Owen Burrows-trained Anmaat were right on his tail and came over the top late to leave the 29,012 crowd in stunned silence.
Crowley said: “I was going well in the straight, but then we had to try and work our way through and we got completely stopped.
“There was no option at the time, we were just stuck. I won’t tell you what I was thinking. But when he got the gap, it was extraordinary the way the horse picked up and, believe me, it was no fluke.
“This year has been a bit slow. I am used to having these big winners all the time and this is my first Group 1 this year so I’m going to enjoy it.”
It was an especially big result for the jockey given he was turned over on superstar Baaeed in the same race two years ago.
He added: “It was a tough one to take when Baaeed got beat here a couple of years ago, but it just makes this result even sweeter.”
Economics ran the worst race of his young career back in sixth, and as he pulled up passing the line there was blood clearly visible around his nostrils.
When a horse ‘bleeds’ it’s usually a result of burst blood vessels in the lungs. It’s not a serious condition but can often be a recurring issue and will have a severe impact on their performance in a race.
It’s the second time the three-year-old has bled during a race, though William Haggas claimed the bleed after his victory in the Dante at York in May was because he banged his head on the starting stalls.
There were no such excuses this time and it clearly looks like being a major concern for the horse going into next season.
Charyn, meanwhile, has been an absolute model of consistency all year long and he capped an epic campaign with victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
His jockey Silvestre De Sousa rode him with supreme confidence, and he was still sat motionless as Facteur Cheval ranged up alongside with a potent looking challenge.
But the undisputed champion miler Charyn went clear when asked to quicken up and he was well on top at the line for a chuffed Roger Varian.
It has been a tough year for the Newmarket trainer, who has lost the support of powerful owners Amo Racing and Sheikh Obaid, but this horse has more than kept him going with three Group 1 wins.
Varian said: “He is a super horse and that was fantastic. Everything went very smoothly, and it was a lovely race to watch.
“Silvestre got me a bit nervous! He just sat there very comfortably and you could see the second horse coming, and then Charyn had to get to work and showed his battling qualities.
“We’ll have to see how he comes out of this race, we might just contemplate one more international run in America or Japan.”
Kind Of Blue bagged the Champions Sprint for nice guy James Fanshawe, who has now won the race three times with horses from the same family.
Kalpana was in a league of her own for trainer Andrew Balding as she swept to an impressive victory in the Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes.
And king of the stayers Kyprios completed a clean sweep for the season when winning the Long Distance Cup in style.
Aidan O’Brien’s star has won each of his seven starts in 2024 and is head and shoulders the best stayer in the world right now.
O’Brien said: “He is a very special horse. Ryan (Moore) was in total control on him after the first furlong, it was a joy to watch.
“He is relentless and has an unbelievable amount of quality, so it doesn’t matter if you go slow or if you go fast, he just goes there and gets the job done.”
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