Hills has plan to get best out of Battaash

Battaash is the fastest thing on four legs at the moment and today’s Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (3.35) would appear to be his to lose after a facile four-length success in the King George Stakes at Goodwood recently.

Sheikh Hamdan’s four-year-old, who won last year’s Prix de l’abbaye by four lengths, is very quick but, perhaps unfairly, has a reputation for being on the edge after blowing this race last year.

He has not done much wrong since and Charlie Hills felt that he had not quite come to himself at Royal Ascot when he was second to Blue Point in the King’s Stand.

However, the logistics of York, where the runners have to walk across the Knavesmire from the racecourse stables, will test any flaws in his character and, to be on the safe side, Hills will saddle him in the racecourse stables and box him over.

Hills is sure that a certain amount of mental maturity has come with experience and age. “People crib him, but he won four out of five starts last year and you’d take that with any horse,” he said.

If the bolshy Battaash, opposed to the brilliant Battaash, turns up Blue Point is the obvious candidate to benefit returning to five after a lacklustre effort in the July Cup.

At the opposite end of the distance scale the Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Stakes may be a Group Two but to one horse, at least, it is worth £1million. Having won the Yorkshire Cup, Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup, Stradivarius stands on the brink of winning the inaugural Stayers’ Million bonus offered by today’s sponsor. John Gosden cannot have been overly upset to see his big rival Torcedor sold to Germany, where his Melbourne Cup plans do not include this race. Red Verdon looks the danger, but realistically a 3lb penalty should not stop Stradivarius.