Andrew Balding moves clear of Aidan O’Brien in Flat trainers’ race after Newmarket and York double
Andrew Balding moved clear of Aidan O’Brien in the Flat trainers’ championship after winners at Newmarket and York on October 9, 2026. The pair’s standings shifted again when Never So Brave took the Group Two Challenge Stakes at Newmarket and Nakila Sun prevailed in the British EBF Final at York.
Balding had been about £700,000 adrift of the defending champion at the end of August but has closed that gap since, moving into the lead for the first time when Blue Bolt won the Group One Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket last weekend. Never So Brave’s victory over stablemate Flora Of Bermuda in the Challenge Stakes was worth a total of £129,000, and Nakila Sun’s British EBF Final success carried a £51,000 winner’s prize; the two results came less than half an hour apart. Those outcomes gave Balding further advantage ahead of Champions Day at Ascot next weekend.
In the Group One Fillies’ Mile, Aidan O’Brien’s runner Haven was overhauled inside the final furlong by the odds-on favourite, Musical Times, with Balding’s Forbidden Fire and Scommessa Sicura taking third and fifth respectively. Charlie Appleby’s Musical Times remained unbeaten after three starts and is around 5-2 for next year’s 1,000 Guineas; Appleby said: “After two furlongs, we just had to hold our breath a little bit, but William was on the class filly in the race and he knew it himself,” Appleby said. “He was just trying to find those gaps and when he did she quickened up smartly.”
Aidan O’Brien has more than a dozen entries on Champions Day at Ascot next weekend, with Jan Brueghel, at 6-4 for the Long Distance Cup, currently his only favourite on the card. Constitution River is quoted at 4-1 for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and around 10-1 for the Champion Stakes, while Gstaad is also listed for both of the card’s most valuable events. After Friday’s action Paddy Power quote O’Brien at 2-7 (from 1-4) to win the title race, while Balding is 5-2 (from 11-4).
James Owen’s dual-purpose gelding High Fibre is a prominent contender for Saturday’s Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket, scheduled as the 3.40. The seven-year-old has taken decent handicap prizes over hurdles and on the Flat in four starts since joining Owen from Harry Fry and produced a recent close second at York; Silvestre de Sousa, a three-times winner of this race, is drawn in stall one and low numbers are noted as often enjoying a slight edge.
A series of short-odds and form notes feature on the Newmarket and York cards: Newmarket 1.15 runner Humidity has been off the track and was gelded after finishing one length second behind Bow Echo here last September, Bow Echo being the subsequent 2,000 Guineas winner; York 1.30 Divine Whisper has progressed in three runs and steps up to six furlongs; Newmarket 1.50 Sword Salute is likely to lead in a testing 10-furlong juvenile contest his stable has won a record five times. Sergei Diaghilev returns in the Newmarket 2.25 after finishing second to Desert Castle last time, and the Newmarket 3.00 features Desert Castle against Darkness Falls, with a marginal preference for O’Brien’s colt following a four-and-a-quarter-length latest victory supported by the clock. At York 2.05, Shadow Road carries an opening mark of 94 after a strong showing at Kempton, and York 3.17 sees Dark Thirty offered as a roughly 20-1 each-way option despite a last-place finish at Ripon two weeks ago.
“I’ve been at the sales all week, but I’d imagine the team at home are pretty pumped for it,” Balding said after his Challenge Stakes success. “If we’re still the same after Champions Day then I’ll start to get excited, but I wouldn’t dare say it will be.” Champions Day at Ascot next weekend remains the immediate focal point for the trainers’ championship battle.