2011 Fixtures Announced - British Champions Series

Next year's racing fixture list is set to include the richest meeting in British history it was announced on Friday, but is it good news?
Over three million pound in prize money will be up for grabs on a card that will feature the Champion Stakes, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Diadem Stakes, Jockey Club Cup, Pride Stakes and an as yet unnamed high-profile handicap. The fixture will be the culmination of the new ‘British Champions Series’ running from the 2000 Guineas meeting in April to the Ascot meeting in September with five different ‘Championships’ – Sprint, Mile, Middle Distance, Long Distance and Fillies & Mares.
The new Series has required some races to switch tracks with the Champion Stakes moving from Newmarket to Ascot being the most controversial.
There is no doubt that the facilities at Ascot are some of the best in the world and the meeting will supply some wonderful sport but Sir Peter O’Sullevan is one of many racing luminaries accusing the racing authorities of change for the sake of change and it remains to be seen just how popular the new British Champions' Series, and the moving of the Champion Stakes, will be.
A recent poll on the Racing Post website resulted in 85% of respondents coming down against the idea of moving the Champion Stakes from Newmarket. It does appear that we are seeing another Racing For Change idea being pushed through regardless of what the racing public, trainers and owners want.
Karl Oliver Chief Executive of the newly formed British Champions' Series Limited (BCS Ltd), formed to run the new series, is reported to have said "British racing is the best in the world, but we need to give our sport a major new platform to compete for the public's attention. Britain's richest-ever day of racing is the opportunity to attract the very best British and overseas horses to compete at our top international racecourse. It can be the autumn climax that British racing deserves."
Fair enough, but with the Champion Stakes still two weeks after the Arc weekend and only three or four weeks before the Breeders Cup meeting in the States, are we likely to see more top class thoroughbreds at Ascot or less as trainers and owners in Britain and abroad are forced to decide which one of the big meetings they will aim their charge at? Surely a tilt at the Arc and the Champion Stakes for example is still as unlikely now as it ever was.
It seems to me we may very well be seeing one of the great races of the season being devalued for the sake of a marketing exercise. Is a ‘Champions Series’ likely to encourage the non-racing public to attend more meetings? I personally doubt it as there is every chance they will feel even less involved in the sport than the occasional visitor does now. It is highly unlikely that the general public will be aware of which horse is ‘leading’ in any given Championship category if they are even aware of the Championship at all.
I fear the new British Champions' Day may well turn into a mini Royal Ascot with as many people attending just to be seen at the event as to enjoy the sport on display. It may earn a few more quid for the marketing people but I fear ultimately it will not improve horseracing in anyway and surely that should always be the reason for change - improvement.