BUSY weekend ahead, on all sides of the Irish Sea and all sides of the English Channel and under all codes.

The BetMGM Challenge Cup at Ascot today is a little different to the full-field charge that you usually get for these big seven-furlong handicaps at Ascot, it doesn’t have the full 25 or 26 or 27-runner field that the Buckingham Palace or the Victoria Handicap gets, simply because the course is narrowed and the field is limited to 18 with one eye on British Champions Day in two weeks’ time.