Battaash stays cool to blitz his rivals
ODDS-ON favourite Battaash proved that when he gets it right no horse on the planet can live with him over five furlongs on turf as he blitzed his rivals in the King George Stakes. Temperament has proved the achilles heel of the Charlie hillstrained gelding, who won the Group Two race for the second year running.
he blew a fuse when fourth in last season’s Nunthorpe Stakes at York and again got upset in the preliminaries when beaten by Blue Point in the King’s Stand Stakes at royal Ascot in June.
But it was his opponents who were
blown away as the Jim Crowley-ridden 4-5 favourite stayed cool as the Goodwood crowd fried under the sun to beat Take Cover four lengths in a lightning-fast 56.50 seconds.
Crowley said: ‘He has two speeds, walking and flat out. When those gates open, you light the fuse. He’s out and gone and you’re a passenger.’
Hills’s string has struggled to hit top form this season but yesterday the trainer’s plan to keep the Sheik Hamdan-owned colt calm worked — arriving late in the paddock and not legging Crowley into the saddle until the gelding was walking down the walkway to the track.
Hills, who hopes it will work again for the Nunthorpe at York on August 24, said: ‘I am pleased about how he is behaving. He is more of a man.’
After York, Hills intends running Battaash in the Flying Five Stakes (at the Curragh on September 16) before attempting back-toback wins in the Prix De L’Abbaye at Longchamp in October. Then possibly it’s the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November.