Battaash win caps a great day for Brits
THE scintillating four-length win in the Prix de L’Abbaye for Charlie Hills-trained Battaash was among the highlights of a day of total domination for foreign raiders at Chantilly. In front a 35,000 crowd which included French international footballer and racehorse owner Antoine Griezmann and rugby union greats Ronan O’Gara and Dan Carter, French hopes were shut out as British trainers also landed the Prix de la Foret with Martyn Meade’s Aclaim and Prix Marcel Boussac with Charlie Appleby’s Wild Illusion — as well as John Gosden’s Arc win with Enable. Aidan O’Brien also took his seasonal tally of Group One wins to 22 after Happily (Ryan Moore) was successful in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Rhododendron (Seamus Heffernan) won the Prix De L’Opera. But Battaash created the biggest impression, bouncing back from his defeat in York’s Nunthorpe Stakes to blitz his rivals and beat 2016 winner Marsha, the filly owned by 10,000 members of the Elite Racing Club, by four lengths. It was a first Group One for champion jockey Jim Crowley in the colours of owner Sheik Hamdam Al Maktoum since being appointed his No 1 jockey for this season. Crowley said: ‘We were winging it. With Battaash you are a passenger.’ As a gelding, Battaash will be around for some time, if Hills can curb his fiery temper.