All systems go for Mukhadram and Farhh on QIPCO British Champions Day

Farhh after his JLT Lockinge Stakes victory, with Simon Crisford (left), jockey Silvestre De Sousa and Saeed bin Suroor (right). Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

Newmarket trainers William Haggas and Saeed bin Suroor are priming Mukhadram and Farhh for QIPCO British Champions Day, Britain’s richest raceday at Ascot on Saturday 19 October.

Mukhadram, who went down to Al Kazeem by only a neck in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, is bang on course for the QIPCO Champion Stakes.

After Royal Ascot, he was an unlucky third in the Coral-Eclipse before victory in the Skybet York Stakes.

Haggas said: “Mukhadram is in great form. If we are to get another race into him before the Champion the only option is the Dollar [on Arc weekend at Longchamp], but that is unlikely, he is more likely to go straight there.

“He only took a week to get over the foot problem he suffered during the York Stakes but that was enough to rule him out of the Juddmonte International.

“We always intended to give him a break and then it was always the Champion Stakes that Sheikh Hamdan wanted to go for.

“He is better on quicker ground but won on soft at Sandown earlier in the season so he can cope with it.

“Our big hope is to have him fresh and well for the Champion as that will be a huge asset at this time of the year.”

Farhh is also a fascinating contender having run away with the JLT Lockinge Stakes in May before injury struck.

Runner-up to Frankel in last year’s Juddmonte International, Farhh is entered in both the £1.3m QIPCO Champion Stakes and the £1m Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s racing manager, said: “Farhh is in full training and working well.

“We plan to run him next in the QEII or the Champion but no decision will be made until closer to the time.”