The final big hurrah of the flat season is Champions Day at Ascot. With four group 1 races on a six race card and a total prize fund of over £4.2 million, it is without doubt one of the worlds leading race days. The races at the meeting are a series of finals for different divisions in the British Champions Series, meaning there is a mix of distances and conditions that make this meeting unique.
There is a long distance final (Long Distance Cup), sprint final (Champions Sprint Stakes), fillies and mares final (Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes), a middle distance final (Champion Stakes – the richest race of the day) and the one mile final (QEII Stakes). There is also the Balmoral Handicap, which is also run over a mile, but it is not your typical handicap given the prize fund is a cool quarter million.
The meeting was created in 2011 to combine top races from Ascot and Newmarket into a single end of season flat racing finale. The races then became finals for the Champions Series and despite only being a single day with 6 races on the card it has become one of the most watched and bet on meetings of the entire year. Rivalling the likes of Cheltenham, the Grand National and Royal Ascot.
Coming at the end of the season means we know what horses are in form, however, at this meeting all the runners are top class and have shown good form or they wouldn’t be in the races in the first place. This is a meeting where fine margins matter, you won’t see horses romping home 10 lengths clear, instead it is about finding the diamonds amongst the other gems.
Still, with the best research in the world racing is unpredictable and so it makes sense where possible to use betting offers and concessions. These can add value to winning wagers or provide money back for near misses. On this page we look at the best offers available for Champions Day and what races they might suit the best.
Please Note: This event has now finished and the promotions listed below will have expired.
Paddy Power Bet £5 13:25 £5 Free Bet 16:00
For those wanting to bet on the first race of the day, the Long Distance Cup at 13:25, you can also get a £5 free bet for the feature race of the day, the Champion Stakes at 16:00.
The offer requires opt-in first but is open to all eligible new and existing customers. To qualify you need to place a minimum £5 win or £2.50 each-way bet on the first race. The free bet is credited once the qualifying bet is placed.
This offer suits those that want to only place a single bet on the meeting, perhaps on the main race of the day, but gives you the opportunity to also bet on the first race.
Betfair Bet £10 Get £40 In Free Bets (New Customer)
This Champions Day special from Betfair gives new customers £40 in free bets if you join and bet £10+ on any horse racing market prices 1/5 (1.2) or more between the 14th – 15th October. This will cover pretty much every horse running at Ascot on Saturday.
The £40 in free bets is awarded on bet settlement and can be used on horse racing markets over the next 7 days, for bets placed at odds of 1/2 (1.5) or more. This means you can use the free bets on the other Champions Day races or any other racing in the next week.
This is a great offer if you do not already have a Betfair account as for Champions Day Betfair are one of the biggest and best bookies. This promotion is for the fixed odds sportsbook not the exchange.
Boylesports BOG From Friday (inc Ante Post)
One way to find value at a meeting like Champions Day is to back runners ante-post before the market starts to move as most money is placed on races on the day. The problem with backing horses ante-post is if the price ends up lengthening from the odds you took you won’t get the better starting price as best odds guarantee usually only applies to bets placed on the day of the race, from 9-10am (when early prices are released).
Boylesports offer best price guarantees on UK and Irish racing the day before the race too. This means you can bet on the Friday potentially taking advantage of better ante-post prices but if you guess wrong and the price drifts out by the time the SP is declared then you will get those better odds.
Bet365 ITV Racing 4/1 Offer – Large Field Races
The prize money on offer for Champions Day is very high and so most of the races will have close to the maximum number of runners in them. Races like the Sprint Stakes, QEII Stakes and Balmoral Handicap can have fields up to 20 and the other races up to 14.
More runners means more of an odds spread and due to the nature of the meeting, with all horses being proven winners, it means there are a lot of horses priced above 4/1. This is why the bet365 ITV 4/1 offer could be worth looking at for this meeting, if you are backing any horses above 4/1.
The offer matches your stake, up to £50, with a free bet for the next ITV race if you back a 4/1+ winner. If the free bet loses you get your stake back up to £50 but if you back another 4/1+ winner you get another free bet on the next ITV race, and so on. See major terms below:
10bet 3/1+ Winner £5 Free Bet – Alternative
If you find yourself looking at a horse that is either not in an ITV race or is between 3/1 and 4/1 then the 10bet catch of the day offer could be useful to you.
This gives you a £5 free bet if you back a 3/1+ winner. This is unrestricted and can be used on any sports valid for 7 days. You do, however, need to stake at least £25 to qualify and you also need to opt-in first.
Coral Beaten By A Length Money Back – Sprint Races
Champions Day is a meeting for Champions and so it is fairly rare for the winner to dominate a field and trot home several lengths clear of the second placed runner. This means Coral’s beaten by a length money back can be very useful for this Ascot meeting.
Naturally the shorter the race the less chance there is of a pack spreading out and so it comes in handy in particular for the 6 furlong Sprint Stakes along with the two mile races, the Balmoral Handicap and QEII Stakes. It is useful in all the races to be fair given how strong the fields are, but particularly the shorter sprints.
The deal gives you your win stake back as a free bet up to £10 if your horse is beaten into second by a length or less. Minimum £1 bet.
Betfred Lucky Bonuses – Multiple Race Bets
The horses at run at Champions Day are well known proven winners that punters will recognise by name. The profile of the meeting and the runners means it attracts more multiple bets than usual, especially full cover bets like Yankees, Canadians, Lucky 15’s / 31’s / 63’s and others.
The idea of a full cover bet is it is a package of bets. If you have 4 selections, for example, you can cover every single, every double, every treble and the four fold acca in one Lucky 15 bet. It is called a Lucky 15 as the package is 15 bets, so 15 individual stakes. The benefit of a bet like this is not every selection needs to win for you to get a return. If only one or two win you may not win as much as you staked but you will get something back, unlike with a straight accumulator.
Bets like this are especially common for Champions Day thanks to Frankie Dettori famously riding all seven winners in one day back at Ascot in September 1996. With cumulative odds of 449/1 and the fact many people backed Dettori in various doubles, trebles, etc., meant the bookies lost a lot of money that day. It wasn’t a Champions Day meeting back then but the story is still told around the course and lots of people will place multiple bets as a result.
This is where Betfred’s All Correct Bonus and One Winner Bonus can be useful. The All Correct Bonus gives you a bonus if all selections win in your Lucky15 or other full cover bets. Paid in cash.
The One Winner bonus on the other hand gives you three, four or five times the odds if only one selection of your Lucky or full cover bet wins.
The offers apply in tandem, so you don’t need to choose one or the other. It means Betfred are the only place you should bet if placing multiples on Champions Day.
