British Champions’ Series, a major new premier series of British horseracing, will be introduced from 2011, climaxing with the richest fixture in British racing history, British Champions’ Day, at the internationally-renowned Ascot Racecourse. The move has been hailed by senior industry figures as a crucial step towards broadening the appeal of the UK’s second most attended sport with new audiences across Britain and around the world.

With a total prize money pot of more than £13 million, British Champions’ Series will feature 35 premier Flat races, staged at ten of the UK’s leading racecourses: Ascot, Doncaster, Epsom Downs, Goodwood, Haydock Park, Newbury, Newmarket’s July Course, Newmarket’s Rowley Mile, Sandown Park and York.

It will encompass British racing’s key festivals, including the Guineas Festival at Newmarket, the Epsom Derby Festival, Royal Ascot, the Newmarket July Festival, Glorious Goodwood, the Ebor Festival at York and the Doncaster St Leger Meeting.

British Champions’ Series will comprise five champion categories, namely Sprint, Mile, Middle Distance, Long Distance and Fillies and Mares . Each will feature the six highest-rated races in each championship category to create easy-to-follow narratives for a wider audience.

Offering more than £3 million of prize money, British Champions’ Day will become the UK’s richest-ever day of racing. Featuring the Champion Stakes (Middle Distance), Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Mile), Diadem Stakes (Sprint), Jockey Club Cup (Long Distance) and Pride Stakes (Fillies and Mares), and with Ascot’s prime location, capacity and international brand, the long-term aim is for the event to create a high profile stage to rank with the likes of the USA’s Breeders’ Cup and France’s Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe.

The series will launch on Saturday 30 April 2011 with the 2,000 Guineas on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course and climax at British Champions’ Day at Ascot on Saturday 15 October 2011.