Peslier booked for Wizz Kid, but two big trends need overcoming
Published:Olivier Peslier has picked up a lucrative spare ride on board Wizz Kid for the Champion Stakes at Ascot, but there are two major trends that will have to be overcome if the horse is to taste victory.
Wizz Kid is currently 3/1 to win the Champion Sprint and will be out to go one better than last year when chasing home Deacon Blues and finishing second.
Regular pilot Gerard Mosse has had to give up the mount as he has been booked to ride in Australia, so connections have turned to Peslier in a bid for victory.
Peslier has already enjoyed a productive month by winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on board outsider Solemia and as a four-time winning jockey of this race, his skills cannot be truly called into question.
Wizz Kid’s chances are heightened by the fact that no horses in the Champion Sprint are forced to carry a Group One penalty, meaning she is competing against the majority of her opposition on better terms than would typically be the case.
Her Group One success came on her latest start in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp, when swooping late to catch Mayson in the shadows of the winning post.
This victory showed that she is at her best when there is some cut in the ground and the faster surface on British Champions Day at Ascot last year would have certainly been against her when taking on Deacon Blues.
What is worth noting though is that Wizz Kid’s Longchamp victory was not in the most high-class of Group One renewals and she had a lot in her favour on the day, with the ground being one thing, alongside a plum draw in a low stall.
The other big factor going against her in the Champion Sprint is that she is the only horse among the 19 entered to have never previously triumphed over 6f, losing on all five previous attempts at the trip.
All of the last ten winners of the Champion Sprint had previous winning form over the distance and so this is a big negative that she will have to overcome.
Meanwhile, fillies and mares have only landed the spoils once in the last decade and this is despite making up almost a quarter of all of the runners in this period.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
