Big trio set for Champions Day showdown at Ascot

Ombudsman has won six of his eight races and finished second twice

Three of the world's top-rated racehorses - Ombudsman, Delacroix and Calandagan - will meet in a blockbuster Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.

Ombudsman, number one in the rankings, swooped late to beat Delacroix - rated joint sixth - in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes before the tables were turned in the Juddmonte International.

King George winner Calandagan, who is joint ninth in the global rankings, joins them, along with last year's Irish Champion Stakes winner Economics, who races for the first time in a year.

The Champion Stakes (16:05 BST) headlines five top-level Group One contests on a seven-race card on Qipco British Champions Day - the country's richest raceday with a total of £4.35m prize money on offer.

Ombudsman's stablemate Field Of Gold will run in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for trainer John Gosden, whose strong hand on the day also features Gold Cup victor Trawlerman in the Long Distance Cup.

Owners Godolphin ran a pacemaker to assist Ombudsman in the Juddmonte at York and do so again in the £1.3m Champion Stakes, with Devil's Advocate supplemented at a cost of £75,000.

French challenger First Look is another supplementary entry, while other leading contenders include Almaqam, who beat Ombudsman earlier in the season.

The rivalry between Gosden and Delacroix's trainer Aidan O'Brien has been stoked by comments from both.

O'Brien had urged Gosden, who trains alongside son Thady, to bring Ombudsman over for last month's Irish Champion Stakes.

But Gosden senior said his horse "would not appreciate running against multiple entries from one stable on a track with a short straight" and chose to miss the Leopardstown race, which Delacroix won.

In a media call before Ascot, O'Brien said: "John can whinge a little bit after races, whether he wins or loses, but it's always good sport, and I only say it light-heartedly.

"We treat every single horse with the utmost respect and that'll never change."

Field Of Gold was an impressive winner of the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot before a surprise defeat in the Sussex Stakes, after which he was found to be lame.

Hoping to go one better in the QEII will be Rosallion, trained by Richard Hannon, after three narrow top-level defeats this year, while Karl Burke's filly Fallen Angel comes into the race off a Group One hat-trick.

Kalpana, runner-up to Calandagan in the King George, is among the favourites in the Fillies and Mares Stakes, having finished seventh in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Andrew Balding, second in the British trainers' championship behind O'Brien, saddles Kalpana, while his other hopes include Almeric and Fox Legacy in the Champion Stakes and Never So Brave and Marvelman in the QEII.

"Ascot is a fantastic way to end the season at the world's greatest racecourse," Balding told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"It's certainly been an amazing year for us and hopefully we can add to it on Saturday."

In the Champions Sprint, Wathnan Racing has leading claims with Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes victor Lazzat, along with 2024 winner Kind Of Blue and Flora Of Bermuda.