Almanzor Handles Found in Champion Stakes

French Derby (Fr-I) winner Almanzor for a second straight time got the best of Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) winner Found, winning the £1.3 million QIPCO Champion Stakes (Eng-I), the centerpiece of QIPCO British Champions Day Oct. 15 at Ascot.

Almanzor defeated Found by three-quarters of a length his last time out in the Sept. 10 Irish Champion Stakes (Ire-I) at Leopardstown, prior to her Oct. 2 Arc win. On Saturday, he took over from The Grey Gatsby inside the final quarter as Found also unleashed her rally with Ryan Moore and pursued to his outside, but his turn of foot was electric and she again had to settle for second, two lengths behind. Jack Hobbs was third in the field of 10.

Almanzor, a 3-year-old son of Wootton Bassett sent off the 11-8 favorite, notched a fifth successive victory while covering 1 1/4 miles on good turf in 2:05.94 under Christophe Soumillon, stamping himself Europe's best 3-year-old colt. He has an 8-0-1 career line from 10 starts.

"He is an amazing horse," Soumillon said. "Everything you do with him looks easy, it just shows you how good he is. I never thought at the beginning of the season he would be that strong the whole year. He is getting smarter and smarter.

Soumillon had to work at keeping Almanzor, who broke from post 1, from getting pocketed on the rail.

"A few horses were going left and right in the beginning, I was trying to get a good position but unfortunately I had to go on the inside. When I came on the outside with The Grey Gatsby I knew he was going to give me something.

"I came a bit early for him and I knew Found was there and how strong she is, so I was giving him a chance to finish well and the last 100 yards he kept going."

Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget for owners Ecurie Antonio Caro and Gerard Augustin-Normand, Almanzor won the Prix du Jockey Club (Fr-I, French Derby) at 20-1 odds in June at Chantilly.

Plans call for Almanzor to stay in training next season.

"He's a champion, he did the same performance as in Leopardstown, " Rouget said. "He had the time, five weeks between the two races, which was perfect.

"He beat Found a little further today because I think she felt the Arc in her legs, just 13 days ago, but still she's a champion, too. With him, Found, Minding (winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes [Eng-I) one race earlier on the card) --it really is Champions Day.

"I wanted to keep him at this distance, we keep him next year and we'll see if he goes to the Arc then. He'll have a good rest in the winter and we'll see where we go in the spring."

Of Found, O'Brien said he was delighted with her performance. 

"She only ran in the Arc two weeks ago," he said. "She's a great mare and she still kept coming with her head down. Ryan gave her a great ride as she was drawn out wide which is a difficult enough place.

"She looked great and was well in herself. I'm not sure about the Breeders' Cup, the lads will have to talk about that."