Ryan Moore: Champions Day has bigger problems than heavy ground

Ryan at Ascot earlier this month

Nobody wants to get behind a top class meeting more than Ryan Moore but, bad timing, diminishing quality and a lack of variety, mean that Champions Day at Ascot still lags some way behind other big UK racing events...

It will obviously be a crushing blow to all concerned if heavy ground sees the withdrawal of Frankel at Ascot tomorrow.

But I fear for the future of Champions Day, full stop.

I appreciate that is almost sacrilege to question the wisdom of the day, but I think we have to be honest with ourselves and everyone should stop pussy-footing around the subject.

I know plenty of people who share the same concerns that I am going to express now - and Julian Muscat touched upon them in the Racing Post this week - but they almost feel intimidated into silence and acceptance. Intimidated may be a touch strong, but you know what I mean.

Everyone applauds the concept of us having our own Champions Day and Ascot and all concerned have done a great job to get it up and running. It clearly involved overcoming a hell of a lot of self-interest to get it staged.

And you have to give Qipco the utmost respect for supporting the meeting to such a stunning degree, especially in terms of the prize money on offer.

Their involvement is a massive plus for the sport.

So nothing but praise on that level. And no-one wants to get behind a top class meeting in this country more than I; as I have said before, above all else, and that includes jockey titles, I work to be involved in top class racing.

But at the moment I think Champions Day ranks some way behind the Arc and Breeders' Cup meetings, and is clearly is a work in progress.

There are obvious issues to address, not least the quality of the cards, on which races "clash" with themselves, the timing of the meeting, and the lack of variety on the card. And I am not even going to mention the apprentice race on the card. Well, I might a bit later.

Take out Frankel last year and this, and what are we left with? Pretty much two cards - although I fully accept the Champion Stakes was a top class race last year, with Frankel sparkling in the QEII - that wouldn't particularly stand out during a Royal Ascot meeting.

And when I look at Champions Day, I see a dilution of the domestic end-of-season racing, not a strengthening.

Let me explain.

Let's go through tomorrow's Ascot card. And one thing that immediately strikes me is that it is just a six-race card - and one of those races is a 0-100 apprentices handicap worth 30k, for god's sake - and that is surely unacceptable for such a showcase meeting. Compare that with an Arc or Breeders Cup card, which give racegoers a breadth and depth of racing that Ascot tomorrow cannot currently compete with.

We have a stayers race that features three previous Gold Cup winners but who come here in variable form, a Champion Sprint Stakes that wouldn't get many pulses racing (though, to be fair, not many sprints have these past few years), an up-to-standard Fillies and Mares Group 2 (though one lacking top class fillies and mares such as Danedream, Shareta and The Fugue, not to mention the Arc winner), and a QEII that lacks real strength in depth for a Group 1 mile race (you may think that is harsh but compare this field to the one that Excelebration beat in the Marois).

A Champion Stakes featuring Frankel and taking on Cirrus Des Aigles and Nathaniel is clearly out of the top drawer but at the end of the day the race has attracted just six runners for a massive pot.

So I think the quality issue needs addressing, and that must surely be linked to its proximity to the Arc and Breeders Cup cards.

I know you have more chance of turning on the TV these days, and not seeing Clare Balding, than getting new meetings staged - hence my applauding the fact that I even have a Champions Day meeting to comment on - but surely the more natural home for this meeting is King George Day in July.

I appreciate that Goodwood would probably have something to say about that but if Champions Day is going to be the sport's flagship event, then it has to take priority. Ascot in October is probably not going to attract the best, going forward.

And there is probably too much of a crossover between the 1m and 1m2f races, and probably the 1m2f and 1m4f, on the card, in the likely event of testing ground at this time of year.

But arguably a more pressing concern of mine is the lack of variety on the card, and by that I mean the absence of two-year-old races. Surely, they have to be an integral part of such a day.

I don't think Future Champions Day at Newmarket is anywhere near the finished article yet, and when I looked at the 2yo races last week, I saw too many options and clashes.

To me having the 6f Middle Park, 7f Dewhurst and 1m Autumn Stakes on the same card prevented some high-class and more informative clashes. I would have loved to have seen some of the horses from the Autumn Stakes take on Dawn Approach and beefing up the Dewhurst.

We can have a "future stars" apprentice race, but no "future stars" 2yo races?

So what we currently have is Champions Day meeting that has the foundations in place, but needs a lot of the rough edges knocked into shape and built upon.

Having said all that, I'm fully behind the concept and doubt that I have said anything that the organisers aren't fully aware of and a lot of people in racing aren't already thinking. And I won't be getting involved in any future debate on this; I have just given my honest opinion and will leave it there.

Oh, and by the way, if the ground is deemed suitable by Sir Henry, then Frankel will win by seven lengths.

And no-one will remember any of the other five races, anyway.