Barney Roy will join an increasingly glittering cast for the £1.3 million QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot on October 21.

The Richard Hannon-trained colt also has the option of running in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on QIPCO British Champions Day but the trainer said at Newmarket on Saturday that Europe’s richest mile and a quarter race was his target.

Barney Roy has been a model of consistency in the Series this summer – winning the St James’s Palace Stakes after being runner-up in the 2000 Guineas and then finishing second in the Coral-Eclipse (pipped a nose by Ulysses) and third (again behind Ulysses) in the Juddmonte International Stakes.

He is a general 6-1 second favourite for the Champion Stakes, when Cracksman, Winter, Poets Word and Brametot are likely to be among the opposition.

“Barney Roy’s in great form and heads for the Champion Stakes,” Hannon said. “He will do a little bit tomorrow morning on the grass and we will go from there.”

Image Godolphin, text,  British Champions series