The Emirates Airline Champion Stakes
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The Champion Stakes was held at Newmarket from1877-2010, taking top billing on Champions Day in recent times. -
A Group 1 race staged over a mile and a quarter on the Rowley Mile, it was won by many greats but also proved beyond some top-class horses such as Nijinsky
- The Maktoum Family, rulers of Dubai, have generously sponsored the race since 1982, with that country’s airline putting its name to it for the first time in 2002.
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One of the early winners of the race was the incomparable Ormonde (1886), who won the Triple Crown that year, retired unbeaten and is considered by many to have been the greatest racehorse of all time.
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Two outstanding fillies, Sceptre (1903) and Pretty Polly (1905), were triumphant early in the last century.
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Lester Piggott has ridden more Champion Stakes winners than any other jockey in the post-war period. His five victories included Petite Etoile (1959), Sir Ivor (1968) and Rodrigo De Triano (1992).
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The mighty Brigadier Gerard won the race two years running in 1971 and 1972.
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Several recent winners have gone on to make a big impact overseas in the weeks following their Champion Stakes victory. Pilsudski (1997) won the Japan Cup, Kalanisi (2000) won the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the USA and Pride (2006) won the Hong Kong Cup, a race in which Rakti (2003) finished runner-up.
