Charyn in exalted company after QEII win but unsatisfactory Champion Stakes is tougher to assess

The Champion Stakes proved a messy affair with the protagonists below their best, but there were no such dramas in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in which Charyn produced a champion's performance to deliver an improved Racing Post Rating of 128.

It was an effort that confirmed Charyn as the leading miler in Europe, and the best from a QEII winner bar Frankel (139 in 2011) and Excelebration (131, 2012) since the race was switched to the straight course to become part of Qipco British Champions Day in 2011.

Having played second fiddle to top three-year-olds Notable Speech and Rosallion through the first half of the season, Charyn has improved his figures with virtually every run this year, moving ahead of the Classic crop with an impressive defeat of French Guineas winner Metropolitan in the Prix Jacques le Marois in August.