ARC THE PATH TO BAAEED’S IMMORTALITY

MAKING the toughest test of your career into the simplest is a sign of sporting greatness. That’s what the brilliant Baaeed produced in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International victory.

There have been some magnificent racehorse performances in recent years that are simply jaw-dropping. Cracksman’s success in the 2018 Champion Stakes at Ascot was probably the last performance on the Flat that genuinely blew me away. There have been several very high-class horses since Frankel retired that have achieved plenty at different distances; Baattash in the sprints, Enable over middle distances and Stradivarius as a stayer. Baaeed has topped the lot and the only question left to answer is where his farewell will be.

This column suggested after the Goodwood success that Baaeed is probably a good 10-12lbs adrift of Frankel at least, his six-and-a-halflength demolition job of Mishriff at York clipped that deficit to 7lbs at worst. I rate horses as conservatively as possible and the minimum you could give Baaeed is 133. Frankel retired on 140 and the level of opposition he raced against will always ensure that he’ll be at the top of the Flat racing tree for the foreseeable.

The final question is the toughest for connections of Baaeed to answer. Already a racing great and such a commercial asset as a stallion for a slim-downed Shadwell Estate operations, nobody could blame connections for staying at a mile and a quarter and taking the easier option and confirming his class at 10 furlongs by running in the Champion Stakes in October, possibly taking in the Irish equivalent beforehand.

That was the original plan. However, the temptation to go to Paris for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has to be very real. He could emulate his father Sea The Stars and prove his effectiveness at a mile and a half by signing off in style in winning Europe’s most prestigious race.

Baaeed has a shot at immortality and the Arc is the way to it.