Ascot: Jack Hobbs gives Gosden big shot in Champion Stakes

For a second-stringer, Jack Hobbs has put together quite a season in 2015.

Trained by John Gosden, Jack Hobbs won the Irish Derby in June but was second to stablemate Golden Horn in the English Derby earlier that month. Golden Horn later won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and is bound for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31.

Jack Hobbs will be the showcase horse for Gosden in Saturday’s $2,066,386 Champion Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Ascot. The Champion Stakes is one of five Group 1 races on the Ascot program, one of the biggest days of the year in English flat racing.

Jack Hobbs, a colt by Halling, is owned by a partnership that includes Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing. The Champion Stakes will be the first start for Jack Hobbs since a winning tune-up race on the all-weather track at Kempton Park on Sept. 5, his only start since the Irish Derby.

There are five 3-year-olds among the 13 entrants in the Champion Stakes. Among them is Found, a filly who was second to Golden Horn in the Irish Champion Stakes in September and ninth in the Arc. Aidan O’Brien trains Found, a daughter of Galileo.

While Jack Hobbs has been brilliant in longer races, Muhaarar has been the dominant 3-year-old sprinter in England and France this year, winning three consecutive Group 1 races. He will be favored to extend that streak in Saturday’s $961,915 British Champions Sprint Stakes at six furlongs.

Trained by Charles Hills, Muhaarar has not raced since winning the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville in August. He won the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June.

Muhaarar is part of a field of 20 and must beat the undefeated upstart Twilight Son, who has won five races. Twilight Son won his group stakes debut in the Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock Park on Sept. 5. Twilight Son won by a short head over Strath Burn, another runner in the Champions Sprint Stakes.

Covert Love, who starts in the $879,222 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf, has already had a milestone month in October. The 3-year-old filly won the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp on Oct. 4 and makes a quick turnaround for this race.

Trained by Hugo Palmer, Covert Love was the lukewarm 4-1 favorite as of Thursday for the Fillies and Mares Stakes, which drew a field of 12. The field includes the French shipper Candarliya, the winner of the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp on Oct. 3.

The day’s first race, the $521,866 Long Distance Cup at two miles, lacks a standout in a field of 13. The Gosden-trained Flying Officer was sixth in the race last year but has won two starts this year – an allowance race at Salisbury and a minor stakes at Newmarket on Sept. 24. Flying Officer races for American owner George Strawbridge.

The field includes Forgotten Rules, who won the 2014 Long Distance Cup but is winless in his last three starts.