Leung Ho Yin, Simon's Bio
Simon is a well respected full-time thoroughbred racing commentator specializing in pedigree and overseas international racing. He is currently the presenter on several racing television programmes including, ‘Horse Racing – Results’, ‘Simulcast Preview'’ and Simulcast oversea races.

Ascot Racecourse – Track Analysis (British Champions Day):

Configured in a triangular shape while racing anti-clockwise, the world-renowned Round Course at the course of Ascot is also features a 1600m Straight Mile Course coming in as a chute to re-join the home stretch of the course proper.

For both the 1993m Champion Stakes and the 2392m British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, fields will swing right-handed with an incline shortly after the break. Then, it is one stout, steady climb up the Old Mile from there on in, through an acute yet abruptly dipping right-handed corner – just before turning for home – that works markedly against runners rallying from out wide, who may lose both ground and balance while starting to gobble up at the same time.

In contrast, the barrier for the 3190m British Champions Long Distance Cup is placed some 350m before the finish line, and fields have to file by 500m of the homestretch, right in front of the grandstand for the first time, before disputing another full circuit of this Berkshire course to complete this trip. Together with the usual sedate fractions early on in such a grueling marathon, even a bad stall matters minimal at best on any runner’s winning chances.

Back on the Straight Mile Course, where the 1200m British Champions Sprint Stakes, the 1600m Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and the Balmoral Handicap will all be staged – while observing many a contest on this particular race day last year – fields usually bunch up towards the far side, yet runners often travel better on the grandstand side.

After all, be it on the Straight Mile or the Round Course, runners still have to be poised for an all-out 560m cavalry charge down the homestretch. With another sudden ascent shortly before the judge that forces the fields to crank it up another notch at Ascot, any front-runner certainly needs more than a herculean effort to make every stride a winning one.

In the 2019 edition of the featured Champion Stakes, eventual victress MAGICAL was initially tracking the leader before her taking command at 300m out, staying on well to hold off all competition, while ADDEYBB, racing mid-field and in the clear throughout, and Japan’s DEIRDRE, pursuing a rail-skimming trip from way back, rallied late to check in respectively second and third.

With rain teasing the London area through this week, sunny skies will return just in time for the weekend; however, it remains interesting to see if this notorious Berkshire venue would oblige accordingly with a turf strip that dries just as fast.

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