Royal Champion

Plenty went wrong for Royal Champion in the one-mile maiden, but he coped with all of it, and he ran out an impressive winner. He was strong in the pre-race market, but he missed the break and he had to do a little bit of catching up. As well as that, from stall nine and with the stalls on the far side, he was out towards the centre of the track from early, which wasn’t ideal for a colt who was making his racecourse debut. But he travelled well through his race, he made nice progress on the run to the two-furlong marker, he hit the front on the run into the Dip, and he went on to win nicely.

The form of the race looks good too, with warm favourite Toromona, who had finished second in a novice stakes at Sandown on his only previous run, finishing second and the front two pulling nicely clear. Roger Varian’s colt is a half-brother to Outbox, who won over a mile and five and a half furlongs, and his dam, Emirates Queen, won a Lancashire Oaks, so he should get further than this one-mile trip. He raced here like he will too. This was a very likeable performance, and he is an exciting prospect.

Newmarket, 24^th September 2020