'Extraordinary' Anmaat in shock 40-1 win at Ascot

Jockey Jim Crowley punched the air after winning at Ascot on Anmaat

Anmaat sprang a 40-1 shock in the Champion Stakes at Ascot as the outsider defeated favourite Calandagan.

French challenger Calandagan had been short of room during the race but made his way to the front before Jim Crowley came with a perfectly timed run on the winner, trained by Owen Burrows.

Royal Rhyme (25-1) was third in the big race on British Champions Day, while second favourite Economics was back in sixth.

Kyprios and Charyn were among the other winners on the country's richest raceday, where £4m in prize money was on offer.

The Aidan O'Brien pair of Continuous and Los Angeles claimed the front spots as the Champion Stakes developed, with Calandagan among those pegged in behind.

Crowley also had to wait for a gap, but when it appeared, his mount - who was nearly retired after a foot injury last year - surged through and won by half a length.

"When he got the gap it was an extraordinary way that horse picked up and, believe me, it was no fluke," said Crowley of the winner, who had finished fifth at ParisLongchamp this month.

Burrows said: "I put my binoculars down halfway up the straight - I thought he had no chance but to pick up in this ground like that, I thought it was a heck of a performance."

Irish Champion Stakes winner Economics, losing for the first time this season, was found to have bled from his nose, said trainer William Haggas.

• All the results from British Champions Day at Ascot

Kyprios and Charyn among Ascot winners

Kyprios won his seventh consecutive race of 2024

Charyn won his final race in Europe when prevailing in a thrilling finish to the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

The grey, trained by Roger Varian, travelled sweetly and found more under Silvestre de Sousa when challenged by the eventual second Facteur Cheval.

That left the winner with form figures for the season of 1121121, and he will race once more in Japan before being retired for a breeding career.

Kyprios claimed his seventh victory from seven races this season in the Long Distance Cup to continue his remarkable return from a life-threatening injury for champion trainer O'Brien.

The 8-11 favourite was put in a prominent position by jockey Ryan Moore and comfortably resisted the challenge of runner-up Sweet William.

Kyprios became the first Irish-trained horse to secure eight top-level Group One wins with victory in France just 14 days earlier, having missed much of last year with a serious leg injury.

"He's a very special horse and something we've never seen before," said O’Brien.

Conditions were testing after rain in the build-up meant the going became soft, heavy in places after two races.

As the sun broke out, a crowd of 29,000 saw the 10-1 chance Kind of Blue give James Doyle his first Group One winner for Watthan Racing, who retain him as jockey and recently bought the horse.

It was a third success in the Champion Sprint Stakes for trainer James Fanshawe after Deacon Blues (2011) and The Tin Man (2016).

Kalpana justified favouritism to run out a 100-30 winner of the Fillies and Mares Stakes for jockey James Doyle and trainer Andrew Balding in the Juddmonte colours while Carrytheone took the concluding Balmoral Handicap.

Oisin Murphy was crowned champion jockey for the fourth time, and the first since returning in early 2023 from a 14-month suspension for breaching Covid-19 rules and twice failing racecourse breath tests for alcohol.

Sean Dylan Bowen, who was riding at Catterick, claimed the champion apprentice jockey title after his battle with Joe Leavy went down to the final day.