In early 2020 the 6-year-old gelding Addeybb was winning Group 1 races. On Saturday, back home in England, he won another, capturing the Champion Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths over Skalleti. Another half-length back in third came favored Magical, who won the 2019 Champion by three quarters of a length over second-place Addeybb. William Haggas trains Addeybb and Tom Marquand rode him to victory. Marquand is the romantic interest of jockey Hollie Doyle, who started the British Champions Day card winning the Group 2 Long Distance Cup on Trueshan, who blasted home a 7 1/2-length winner, and notching her first Group 1 win in the Sprint, where 16-1 Glen Shiel was home by a scant nose over 80-1 shot Brando. :: Start earning weekly cashback on your wagering today. Click to learn more. While Doyle had two memorable wins, it was a more difficult day at Ascot for favorites and for trainer John Gosden, who saw heavily favored Palace Pier check-in a well-beaten third in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, well-supported French Derby winner Mishriff finish eighth in the Champion, and favored Stradivarius eased across the wire in the Long Distance Cup. Course conditions were testing, many horses struggling to gain traction on a turf track labeled soft and playing very slow. The 1 1/4-mile Champion, for instance, went in 2:12.29, more than eight seconds slower than course standard for the distance. France-based horses appeared to relish the going: The Revenant won the QE II, Wonderful Tonight was much the best in the Fillies and Mares, and Skalleti was a fine second in the Champion. In the Champion, Serpentine, upset winner of the 2020 Derby, missed the break but rushed up to set the pace with Addeybb, a known soft-turf lover, always in close attendance. Addeybb collared Serpentine with about a quarter-mile to race, seized command, and never was threatened, Skalleti battled on gamely as Magical failed to find the form that won her the Irish Champion Stakes last month. Serpentine held surprisingly well to finish fourth. Addeybb, by Pivotal out of Bush Cat, by Kingmambo, went to Australia late this winter and won the Group 1 Ravnet and the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth, both over 1 1/4 miles. The one-mile, straight-course QE II was supposed to be all about 3-year-old Palace Pier, who had excelled on soft turf winning the Prix Jacques le Marois in his first try against older horses. But Saturday, Palace Pier lost a front shoe during the race and couldn’t come close to matching late stride with the top two finishers. There was very little between that pair as The Revenant, second in this race a year ago, got his head down to keep Roseman from a 16-1 upset. Pierre-Charles Boudot rode the winner for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. Five-year-old The Revenant has been a prolific winner, but this, his 10th win from 13 starts, was his first Group 1. A gelding, The Revenant is by Dubawi, out of Hazel Lavery, by Excellent Art. In the Fillies and Mares, Wonderful Tonight cut back in trip from the 1 3/4-mile Prix Royallieu two weeks ago to score a front-end victory, William Buick riding for trainer David Menuisier. Three-year-old Wonderful Tonight is a daughter of Le Havre out of Salvation, by Montjeu. Dame Maillot finished a soundly defeated second. Glen Shiel, the Sprint winner, is like Addeybb a 6-year-old gelding, and until September, he’d never started in a Group 1 race. On Sept. 5, he was second to Dream of Dreams in the Sprint Cup at Haydock Park, and when Dream of Dreams failed to fire Saturday, Glen Shiel stepped up, just nosing out 8-year-old Brando, who entered this start on a 10-race losing streak. Archie Watson trains the winner, a son of Pivotal and Gonfilia, by Big Shuffle. Trueshan was an 11-1 shot overseas but wound up the day’s most dominant winner in the Long Distance Cup. Trueshan, a French-bred 4-year-old gelding by Planteur out of Shao Line, by General Holme, never had raced beyond 1 3/4 miles before Saturday, but loved this two-mile trip, pulling away from his rivals for a blowout victory. Stradivarius, the best staying horse in Europe for three years, was back on short rest following a start two weeks ago in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He was beaten a long way from the finish and like many of the better-known horses Saturday might as well have stayed in the barn.