Autumn

Saturday 16th October 2010.

The atmosphere will crackle, the thunder of hooves will deafen, the roar of the crowd as the horses close in on the winning line will set your pulse racing and the applause that greats the latest champion's return to the winner's enclosure will reverberate around the magnificent Millennium Grandstand…

Champions are crowned in every sport and in horseracing it happens more frequently than anywhere else at Newmarket, the historic Home of Racing, where many of the greatest racehorses ever to grace the turf have staked their claim to immortality.

And if you had to pick just one day to see a new champion emerge or an existing one enhance his claims to greatness, then it simply has to be Champions' Day.

This is the day that has it all.  With six Group races - the most important races in the international calendar - plus the totesport.com Cesarewitch Handicap and a million pounds in prize money, it is the highest class raceday in the British flat racing calendar.  What a way to celebrate autumn at the Home of Racing!

The Emirates Airline Champion Stakes, one of two sizzling Group 1 contests on the day, was won in 2009 by the Henry Cecil-trained Twice Over (pictured left), who went on to finish a fine third to Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic, while in 2008 the year's top-rated three-year-old, New Approach, triumphed in devastating fashion. 

French stars Literato and Pride took the previous two runnings and in 2010 it is sure to attract once again some of Europe's middle distance superstars chasing the last big prize in the European season.  It is a race that really matters.

The Jumeirah Dewhurst Stakes is the other Group 1 centrepiece and is invariably contested by the most promising juvenile racehorses, looking to secure the crown of Europe's champion two-year-old.

The winner often winters as the favourite for the following year’s opening Classic, the stanjames.com 2000 Guineas, staged back at the Rowley Mile. In the past, such greats as The Minstrel, El Gran Senor, Zafonic and Rock Of Gibraltar have all triumphed in the Dewhurst Stakes on a day when there is always a sense of history in the making.

There is a stunning supporting card, too. For example, the growing stature of the Lotus Evora Rockfel Stakes is illustrated by the fact that its respective 2005 and 2006 winners, Speciosa and Finsceal Beo, came back to the Course of Champions the next year to race to glory in the Stan James-sponsored 1000 Guineas. 

Come and celebrate racing’s heroes and champions at Newmarket’s autumn showpiece. Don't miss Champions’ Day!  The two-day Champions’ Meeting gets under way on Friday 15th October when the Group 3 Darley Stakes is the highlight, accompanied by two Listed races.