Baaeed delivers emphatic answer at York
THE crowds flocked to York to see if Baaeed could join the pantheon of true greats of horse racing by winning the £1m Juddmonte International Stakes – and the answer they got was an emphatic ‘yes’.
Trained in Newmarket by Skipton-born William Haggas, the world’s highest rated horse put his nine-race unbeaten run on the line on the Knavesmire.
The main worry beforehand was if the supreme miler would see out his first attempt at 10 furlongs – Haggas was confident he would – and his charge responded in scintillating style as the race reached its denouement and there was only question left to answer: ‘by how far?’
The answer? Six-and-a-half lengths, but even that did not fully explain his superiority over the rest of the field with last year’s winner Mishriff a game second, but not in the same league as the imperious winner.
It put Baaeed (2-5 fav) in the same class as his father, the brilliant Sea The Stars, who won the 2009 renewal in a course record time, and the legendary Frankel, 10 years to the day after the late Sir Henry Cecil’s superstar brought the house down.
The crowd probably wasn’t as big as that storied day, but they still responded in huge numbers to the horse’s brilliance, with people of all ages thronging the parade ring for a glimpse of the star before the race and then giving him and jockey Jim Crowley a tumultuous reception when they returned victorious several minutes later.
Haggas, who appeared just after the finishing post to applaud his horse as he went past the line, said: “When the crowd started clapping so was I.
“Rarely do you see in a high class race a horse appear on the bridle looking like he could go at any time. He could have waited longer. He’s just good.”
The handler has been loath to compare him to Frankel, who also went through his career unbeaten and bowed out – as it is planned Baaeed will – in the Champions Stakes at Ascot in October, but people still tried.
“I think the racing public have shown their appreciation today. Everyone loves a good horse and I hope they all turn up for Ascot as well. I never had any desire to run in the Arc – unless Sheikha Hissa (owner) and Angus [Gold] decide they want to go there it will be Ascot,” said Haggas.
“I think he’s got a lot of class. He’s a very talented horse but there’s never been any talk of him racing next year – he mustn’t, he needs to go off and start earning some money doing what we’d all like to be doing.
“He’s delivered a special performance today. It’s very difficult, especially when you’ve got another horse in the race, to try to take it all in but he looked pretty spectacular to me.”
There was a special mention too for William Knight’s Sir Busker, sent off the 100-1 outsider of the six.
His jockey Ben Curtis had told yesterday’s The Yorkshire Post how he fancied his horse to run a huge race – and how he did.
Despite a slow start, Sir Busker soon made up the ground and although he was never going to catch the leading two he claimed third place on the line and £107,000 in prize money.
“It was absolutely fantastic,” said Curtis. “To get third behind an absolute aeroplane, I followed him round. He’s just a superstar, the winner.
“We were just behind Mishriff who has come back to his best. I couldn’t be happier with my lad.”
Another son of Sea the Stars, Deauville Legend (5-2 fav), landed the St Leger Trial, the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes in impressive style for jockey Daniel Muscott and trainer James Ferguson.
Not to be outdone, Frankel also had a winner, Chaldean (7-2) for Andrew Balding and Ryan Moore, in the seven Tattersalls Acomb Stakes.
Designer (14-1) won the penultimate race, a five furlong sprint The Celebrate ITM’s 200th Voucher Winner Stakes and favourite backers were rewarded when Streets of Gold (7-2) obliged in the last – the Sky Bet Nursery Stakes for jockey Charles Bishop and Eve Johnson Houghton.
Earlier fans of TV detective shows were rewarded when Leyburn-trained Bergerac (22-1) took the Sky Bet and Symphony Group 5 furlong opener for Kevin Ryan and Tom Eaves.
But there was only really one show in town and he sent all the viewers home happy.