BATT OUT OF HELL

Record run by Hills’ super sprinter

SPEEDBALL Battaash finally got his act together to end his Knavesmire hoodoo and run the fastest ever five furlongs at York in a scintillating Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes win.

Two previous runs in the Group One race had resulted in deflating fourth places for Battaash’s trainer Charlie Hills and jockey Jim Crowley.

But proven sprinters such as July Cup winner Ten Sovereigns (sixth of 11 runners) and last season’s Nunthorpe Stakes runner-up and Prix De L’Abbaye winner Mabs Cross (fourth) trailed in Battaash’s wake.

The winner crossed the line a gaping three-and-three-quarter lengths clear of runner-up Soldier’s Call. Battaash’s time of 55.9 seconds was the first time a five-furlong race at the track had been run sub-56 seconds.

The effort smashed the 1990 course record of Dayjur, another flying machine who like Battaash carried the colours of owner Sheik Hamdan Al Maktoum.

Tracking pacesetter Ornate for the first two furlongs yesterday seemed to suit Battaash and when Crowley made a move just after halfway on the 7-4 second favourite, the rest of the field were left floundering.

Hills said: ‘That was the plan. He is so fast it is ridiculous, but you have to try to get the sections right and use that speed in the right moments of the race.’

Hills is hoping Battaash, a five-year-old gelding who has won ten of his 19 races, will be racing at the top level for another three years. More immediately, his remaining targets this season will be the Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh next month and Longchamp’s Prix de L’Abbaye, which he won in October 2017.

Battaash could also take in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in November.

A run there would be a chance to settle an old score for Sheik Hamdan.

Dayjur had the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Sprint on dirt at Belmont in his grasp until jumping a shadow yards from the post and losing momentum.

The Sheik is reluctant to run, believing European sprinters are at a disadvantage compared to their US counterparts, who are more used to sprinting around a bend.

One thing is certain — Hills needs passports for sons James, 11, and Eddie, eight. Battaash has not lost a race when they have been present and they have become lucky mascots.