We won't run away - Burrows

WEN Burrows is hoping for rain at Ascot to give Anmaat the best possible chance of successfully defending his crown in the Qipco Champion Stakes.

- ASHLEY IVESON

A shock 40-1 winner of the Champions Day showpiece last season, the seven-year-old has gone on to prove that triumph was no fluke by finishing second in both the Tattersalls Gold Cup and the Prince of Wales's Stakes earlier this season and again on his return in last weekend's Irish Champion Stakes.

Anmaat finished best of the rest behind star three-year-old Delacroix at Leopardstown, beaten just three-quarters of a length, and Burrows is pleased with how his stable star has recovered from those exertions. He said: “He's grand, it’s a bit gutting to keep finishing second in these Group Ones, but I can’t be anything but proud of him because he’s run an absolute stormer again.”