World’s highest rated racehorse Baaeed out to finish in style in Champion Stakes

On the tenth anniversary of Frankel’s emotional swansong in the 2012 QIPCO Champion Stakes, racegoers can look forward to seeing Baaeed finish his own extraordinary career in similarly fitting fashion – provided his first attempt at further than a mile in York’s Juddmonte International Stakes in just over two weeks’ time passes as smoothly as his first nine races.

The world number one has understandably been given an entry in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO) too in case he is found to be lacking in stamina. However William Haggas, who has always resisted comparisons with Frankel, is hoping that the four-year-old will sign off in the QIPCO Champion Stakes before starting a new career at stud.

Last week’s Qatar Sussex Stakes winner will not have things easy however, for competition is stiffer still over middle distances than at a mile and the QIPCO Champion Stakes has attracted a formidable entry of 42, which also includes last year’s Cazoo Derby winner Adayar, the Prix Du Jockey Club and Coral-Eclipse winner Vadeni, last year’s winner Sealiway, and three top-class entries from the Gosden stable in Nashwa, Mishriff and Lord North.

Haggas, who has also entered his 2020 winner Addeybb, Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Alenquer, last year’s runner-up Dubai Honour, recent Listed winner Grocer Jack and three-year-olds Maljoom and My Prospero, said: “We’ve got Baaeed for two more races, as he’s very likely to go to stud at the end of the year, so we want to enjoy him. He will hopefully go a mile and a quarter for the first time in the Juddmonte, and then we’ll see after that whether it’s the QIPCO Champion Stakes or the QEII, and then that’s the end.”

He just keeps winning and he’s got gears

Asked if he thinks about how close Baaeed might get to Frankel, ratings wise, by the end of his career, he replied: “It doesn’t bother me. I don’t think you can compare the two horses. For me, Sea The Stars was just as good as Frankel but he did it in a different way. He won them all from the Guineas to the Arc and if he’d stayed in training he’d have won them all again, apart from the three-year-olds only races. 

“Like Sea The Stars, Baaeed is not flash but he gets the job done. He doesn’t pull, doesn’t have to get a lead, just travels away and comes there cantering when the others are all off the bridle. He just keeps winning and he’s got gears. He takes it all in his stride and that makes it easy for us. He’s fantastic.”

Baaeed has yet to meet an opponent of Adayar’s calibre, and Charlie Appleby is itching to see what last year’s Epsom hero can do at a mile and a quarter when he finally returns to the racecourse following a respiratory issue.

Appleby, whose three-year-old Native Trail is also in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO), said: “I was delighted with Adayar last week when he had his first easy piece of work. He’ll probably run in the September Stakes first, hopefully as a prep for QIPCO British Champions Day.

“We can make a call after the September Stakes about the Arc, but the QIPCO Champion Stakes interests me. The Arc will most likely be run in soft ground, which is not to his liking, but the gamble will be on what the ground will be like come Champions Day. We’ll see.”

He added: “I’ve been wanting all year to drop him back to a mile and a quarter and I think it’s well within his compass to do it at that level. It will be good for him. Personally I’d love to see him at a mile and a quarter, but that’s me talking, not the horse. The most important thing is that we are now seeing the Adayar again that we were seeing in March. He’s back in good order and it’s exciting.”

Mishriff holds the cards for Gosden camp

Outlining plans for the Clarehaven entries, Thady Gosden, who holds the licence jointly with his father John, said: “Mishriff will run in the Juddmonte again first, but he’s run in the QIPCO Champion Stakes the last two years. There are a lot of variables and we’ll see how he is after York and what the ground is like.

“Lord North likes the track and also ran in the QIPCO Champion Stakes last year. He had a busy enough start to the year, running in Dubai, so he’s having a bit of a break, but it’s definitely an option.

“With Nashwa it’s just a case of leaving our options open. She’s done really well obviously and she’s kept on improving, winning the Diane and the Nassau since not quite getting home in the Oaks. The intention is to keep her against fillies this year, but it’s good to have the QIPCO Champion Stakes option.”

The stable’s Cazoo Oaks second Emily Upjohn is also entered here, as well as in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.

French fancy Sealiway back for more

Francis Graffard has been training Sealiway less than a year, but he loves this meeting and has had one eye on the QIPCO Champion Stakes throughout. He confirmed: “We are looking at the QIPCO Champion Stakes for Sealiway again. He’ll probably run first in the Irish Champion Stakes or else stay in France for the Prix Foy, and he’ll then run in the Arc again, but we’ll be looking at Ascot again too.”

Vadeni, whose trainer Jean-Claude Rouget won the 2016 QIPCO Champion Stakes with Almanzor and has also entered Al Hakeem and Erevann, looks set to stick to a mile and a quarter.

Georges Rimaud, racing manager to the Aga Khan, said: “Vadeni is entered in the QIPCO Champion Stakes and the Irish Champion Stakes. The Arc has not been on his calendar. Jean-Claude thinks he is more of a ten-furlong horse.

“He has been very well since the Eclipse and has now started his serious work in preparation for September 10. We are taking things one race at a time. How he performs in the Irish Champion Stakes will help us decide what is the next step.”

The QIPCO 2000 Guineas third Luxembourg, a long-time Derby favourite, is an interesting entry from Aidan O’Brien, who won with Magical in 2019 and also has High Definition, Broome, Tuesday and Stone Age, another one-time Cazoo Derby favourite, among a typically strong entry. 

O’Brien said: “The plan is for Luxembourg to start back in the Royal Whip here in a few weeks. The next plan after that is that he will go for the Irish Champion Stakes.”

Joseph O’Brien has entered the much travelled State Of Rest (also in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes), whose Prince Of Wales’s Stakes win was his fourth at Group 1 level. Sir Michael Stoute’s Bay Bridge, odds on when second there and below form since in the Coral-Eclipse, is also engaged.

Jim Bolger’s 2021 third Mac Swiney is entered once again, while Eydon, not seen since his eye-catching fourth in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, would be an interesting candidate from the Roger Varian stable.