The thirty-five richest races of the United Kingdom
The thirty-five top races of the United Kingdom fall under the flagship of the Qipco British Champions Series. The races are categorised into sprint, mile, middle distance, long distance and fillies and mares.
The contestants are either sprinters, milers or stayers.
The sprint segment has seven races that are open for three-year-old and above runners, while the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes has provision for the two-year-olds too. The races start off with the least distance of five furlongs (1,000 metres), while the maximum
goes on to 6 furlongs which are 1,200 metres.
Three races that are over 5 furlongs include the Betfred Temple Stakes, King’s Stand Stakes and Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes. The remaining four are the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, Darley July Cup, Betfred Sprint Cup and the feature of the final day, 20th
October at Ascot, the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes.
As the name goes, the second segment is raced over 1,600 metres, and has more to do with the age brackets of the competitors than the varying distances. The three-year-olds initiate this one with the Qipco 2,000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes.
The JLT Lockinge Stakes and the Queen Anne Stakes are raced by contestants who are four-year-old and above.
The mile witnesses collision between three-year-old and above in the Qipco Sussex Stakes and the Shadwell Joel Stakes. Europe’s richest mile race worth £1 million is the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
The truly testing of the categories is the middle distance which ranges from 2,000 metres to 2,400 metres. It takes off with the Investec Coronation Cup and the Investec Derby, both over 2,400 metres which are then followed by the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
The rest include the Coral-Eclipse Stakes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Juddmonte International and Britain's richest ten furlong race, the £1.3m Qipco Champion Stakes.
After the sprinters and the milers, the stayers get their chance in the long distance races.
The longest is the Gold Cup over 2 ½ miles while the Sportingbet Yorkshire Cup tests the stamina over 2,800 metres. The St Leger falls under the similar banner while the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup is the last in line.
For the females, the exclusive contests are the Qipco 1,000 Guineas, Investec Oaks and the Coronation Stakes. They race over variant distances in the Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes, the Markel Insurance Nassau Stakes, the Darley Yorkshire Oaks and the ace,
Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.
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