Champions Day date the first choice for Sprint Cup victor Big Mojo

Mick Appleby is keeping a close eye on the weather ahead of his preferred option for Big Mojo in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes, with good ground required for the in-form sprinter to finish his season at Ascot.

A winner over the course and six-furlong distance at the Berkshire track on his seasonal return, the three-year-old – who triumphed at both Group Three and Group Two level at two – has excelled since taking on his elders in the second half of the current campaign.

After finishing a close-up second in the July Cup, he was not disgraced on his next outing at Goodwood before giving his handler a first domestic Group One prize when downing a strong cast in Haydock’s Sprint Cup.

The Mohaather colt is now poised for a rematch with some of his Merseyside rivals on British Champions Day, but will need conditions to suit, with another trip to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup – a meeting at which he was fourth last season – a tantalising alternative if the ground is too soft at home.

Appleby said: “He’s in great form and the plan is to go to Ascot providing the ground is OK.

“We’re having a dry spell at the moment and it’s still decent ground, but if it’s soft at all we won’t be running and he will go to the Breeders’ Cup if we have to bypass Ascot.

“He won’t do both, it will be one or the other, and we would prefer Ascot but the ground has to be good.

“We’ll have to just watch the weather but I think it is supposed to be mainly dry the next week or so, so we might be OK. It does dry quick at Ascot on the straight course, so the chances are we might get the ground we want.”

Appleby enjoyed a nice precursor to British Champions Day when notching a big-race sprint double at Ascot last weekend, with both Shagraan and stable stalwart Annaf landing valuable prizes on the track’s early-October card.

The latter could now be teed up for a return to Saudi Arabia and another tilt at the valuable 1351 Turf Sprint he won in Riyadh in 2024.

Appleby added: “He’s come out of the race very well and I’m not 100 per cent where we go next but he’ll have a few options.

“The main aim for him will be going back to Saudi in February, but we’ll probably get another race into him here before the end of the season which will keep him ticking over.”