No stopping Trawlerman as champions crowned at Ascot

Trawlerman continued his dominance of the staying ranks in the UK this season with another emphatic Ascot win in the G1 British Champions Long Distance Cup on Saturday.

Returning to the scene of his G1 Gold Cup success in June, the seven-year-old rounded off a perfect European campaign as he defeated Sweet William by a comfortable length and a half.

Trawlerman has looked better than ever this season and is due to race on next year, with another crack at the Gold Cup his main objective.

Ombudsman has also enjoyed an outstanding campaign, winning the G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International, and the Night Of Thunder colt ran an admirable race to take second behind Calandagan in the G1 Champion Stakes.

British Champions Day represents the finale of the UK Flat championship, and Godolphin received the Champion Owner award for a 17th time following a season that saw royal blue runners amass more than £7m in total prize money.

Ruling Court and Desert Flower got the ball rolling with a memorable Guineas double at Newmarket, and next year’s Classics could be on the agenda for Talk Of New York after his sparkling debut at Kempton Park on Wednesday.

Street Boss filly Tempted ran a superb race at Randwick on Saturday as she finished a length and a quarter second to outstanding sprinter Ka Ying Rising in the G1 The Everest.

Tempted is set to bypass the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at the start of November, with Godolphin set to be represented in the Flemington sprint by G1 Golden Rose winner Beiwacht and Tentyris, who stormed home to win the Listed Gothic Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday.

Snow Silence made all for a comprehensive win in a Niigata allowance race on Sunday, with the daughter of Thunder Snow scoring by an easy four lengths. Discreet Cat colt Lucky Kid also impressed on the dirt as he readily took a Tokyo newcomers’ race.

Several Godolphin luminaries will be joining Shadow Of Light in the stallion sheds next season, with Tribalist retiring to Haras de Castillon in Normandy following a superb career that yielded nine Black Type wins, including the 2024 G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.

Last year’s G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup victor Highland Falls will take up stallion duties at Jonabell Farm after a minor injury ruled him out of the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He will be joined by multiple Graded Stakes winner First Mission, who will make his final start in next month’s G2 Clark Stakes – a race won by fellow Darley stallions Maxfield and Proxy in recent years.