2013 Champion Stakes Betting Preview Part 2

The Fugue trades at 11/8 ante post for the Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita while her British counterpart Dank trades at 9/2 and will likely be higher odds on the day. 

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Declaration of War looms as the next best-priced selection for the Champion Stakes but you’ll note that he’s also sitting prominently in the ante post market for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He was withdrawn from the Irish Champion Stakes, a race subsequently won by The Fugue, and the son of War Front will be expected to produce a performance similar to the one he deployed at York when he conquered Trading Leather to win his second Group 1 effort of the year in the Juddmonte International Stakes against a field of six. 

Declaration of War is a mid-range ante post price for the Classic and is listed at 12/1 to win it though you would suspect he might do a bit better tackling the Breeders’ Cup Turf, though his pedigree does look like he will take to dirt very well with War Front’s commanding large prices at the recent spate of American sales. 

Intello, a German-bred who races is France is the third best-priced contender for the Champion Stakes and the three-year-old by Galileo is not pointed to the Breeders’ Cup so you can expect him to be able to lock down a good position once the market firms up over the next couple of weeks. He’s a Group 1 winner at Chantilly and toppled a field of 19 in that effort when he took the Prix Du Jockey Club. He also picked up a Group 3 at Maisons Lafitte and was sent off at 2/7 for his troubles. 

Al Kazeem will likely be the key selection for lots of different punters and, though he was bested by the Fugue in his last effort, you really do get the feeling that he should be able to handle whatever the rest of the field throws at him if he is able to run up to the strength of his previous victories. 

You do have to wonder whether the last race was indicative of a season that has perhaps taken a bit more out of Al Kazeem than he can handle? All of that is speculation but he will likely get bet quite significantly if he points to Champion Stakes and not the Arc De Triomphe.