BATTAASH HAS STAR QUALITY

ANY punter looking for an English winner at the twoday Arc meeting this weekend should look no further than Sunday’s Prix de l’Abbaye.

The English have won 14 of the last

16 runnings of the Group One sprint.

The classy Charlie Hills-trained Battaash looks to be the star attraction to follow up his victory of

12 months ago.

There were 40 standing their ground yesterday but there is another confirmation stage today.

The explosive Battaash is good on his day, though there was a headscratching performance when he capitulated in the Nunthorpe.

He trounced his rivals by four lengths when taking last year’s event, which was run at Chantilly, but has faltered in both his Group One races since.

He was electric when taking Goodwood’s Group Two King George Stakes and it is that level of form and more importantly the time he clocked that should see him home on Sunday.

There is plenty of other English interest.

Nunthorpe runner-up, Mabs Cross, holds an entry and Lambourn trainer, Archie Watson, has entered a couple of juveniles.

That is a tall task as the last twoyear-old to take the prize was Sigy, trained by Criquette Head in 1978.

Watson’s Soldier’s Call won the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot and recently was an impressive winner of the Flying Childers at Doncaster.

He could be joined by stablemate, Shumookhi, who was behind Soldier’s Call at Doncaster but has since run an excellent second in a Group Three at Ayr.

“You’ve got to be delighted. Soldier’s Call is a very quick two-year-old and we’ve always held him in very high regard,” said Watson.

“He’s now a Group Three and Group Two winner so we’ll have to look at Group One races.

“His two options are the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp and the $1 million Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs.

“He’ll probably take in one or both of those.

“There are lots of good older five-furlong horses around but you’d like to see him getting a lot of weight from them all in Paris.”