4.00 Ascot: get the inside track on Baaed's farewell run

Baaeed will command the attention of the racing world when he bids to finish his illustrious career in perfect fashion on Qipco British Champions Day.

The brilliant colt, who is owned by Shadwell and trained by William Haggas, did not appear on a racecourse until his three-year-old season, winning at the first time of asking when landing a Leicester maiden last June.

He has been in the ascendancy ever since, rising up through novice races to Listed and then Group events without finding a horse able to better him.

A dual Group One winner after at the close of his first season, the son of Sea The Stars set out this term with a burgeoning reputation to upkeep and an intriguing question mark over how far his stamina could be stretched beyond a mile.

After straightforward successes in the Lockinge, the Queen Anne and the Sussex Stakes, Haggas tested the waters at a 10-furlong trip for the first time in the Juddmonte International at York in August.

Baaeed not only survived the extra two furlongs, he thrived, cruising to a facile six-and-a-half-length victory over previous winner Mishriff.

That display of stamina opened previously ajar doors, with the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at first dismissed only for a rethink to suggest Paris could be on the agenda after all, before that was eventually vetoed in favour of the Qipco Champion Stakes – which had always been ‘Plan A’.

The race will be Baaeed’s last and brings to a close the thus-far flawless career that a great number of racing lovers hope remains intact.

“It’s been very nice at the sales actually, I’ve been walking around looking at yearlings and so many people have kindly wished us luck for Saturday,” Haggas said.

“I think a lot of people who love horse racing, and there are plenty of us, want to see him strut his stuff and win the race. I think they want to see a really top horse unbeaten.

“I think it’s terribly important (to be unbeaten) now we’re nearly there, we’ve got one race to go.

“Frankel was, obviously, but few are unbeaten in a career at that level. Of course we want him to win every race he runs in, it would be sad if he was beaten – but only for us, it wouldn’t be sad for the people who beat us!”

Baaeed will face eight rivals at Ascot, with Charlie Appleby’s Adayar looking the danger after an injury-delayed campaign that has seen him take to the track just once as a four-year-old.

Last year, however, he landed both the Derby and the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes before finishing fourth in the Arc and then fifth in the Champion.

“He’s obviously a very good horse, he’s won the Derby and the King George,” Haggas said.

“I know he’s a fresh horse, arguably his best form is over a mile and half. Charlie’s horses are running really well and he’s talking him up big time, whether that’s to knock an hour off my sleep at night or he genuinely feels that, I don’t know!”

Baaeed won his maiden by over a length, but it was his second run at Newmarket that really piqued Haggas’ interest, with his subsequent Listed victory in the Sir Henry Cecil Stakes enough to inspire the trainer to put in a call to the handicapper and see if his high estimations were shared.

He said: “He was just a nice horse with a nice pedigree and we have a few of them. After his second race, when he won his novice by seven lengths or more, I thought ‘it’s not bad, this’, then he won the Listed race and I rang Dominic Gardiner-Hill, who is the senior handicapper.

“He is neutral, obviously, I said there seemed to be a bit of hype about the horse and asked what he made of him and he said ‘to be honest, William, I’ve given him 121, which is a hell of a rating after winning a Listed race, but I could have easily given him more. I felt like I couldn’t put him higher than the Guineas winner, which was Poetic Flare, at this stage of his career.’

“He couldn’t put a Listed winner ahead of a Guineas winner, and rightly so, but when Dominic said that to me I thought ‘crikey, this must be something a bit different’.”

That certainly proved to be true, and while anticipation is building for Baaeed’s final run, Haggas is content that he has the horse in the best possible form and accepts he will be able to do no more once jockey Jim Crowley is legged up on Saturday.

He said: “The weather we can do nothing about, the draw we can do nothing about. If we do our job then it’s up to Jim, if Jim continues to do what he’s been doing so far then hopefully he’ll run to his best. If he does that he’s got a good chance.

“I don’t believe much in pressure, I have a sign in my office that has five words in big capitals, saying ‘worry is a futile emotion’.

“There’s not a lot of point in worrying about things you can’t do anything about, we can do something about his well-being, and so far he’s passed every test. We’re very happy at this stage.

“It’s been very hard this year to keep to my other little adage, which is that it’s better to keep your mouth closed and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt! I’ve been talking a lot about this horse, it’s up to him now and up to me to stop talking and let him do his thing.”

Charlie Appleby is well aware of the task facing Adayar as he attempts to rain on Baaeed’s parade in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot.

Having created a piece of racing history last summer by becoming the first horse since Galileo in 2001 to win the Derby and the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the same season, it looked as though the world was his oyster.

His season ended on a down note, however, with defeats in heavy ground in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and just two weeks later in the Champion Stakes.

This year, after an early setback, he arrives as the freshest horse in the field off the back of just one win at Doncaster against two inferior rivals.

“I’ve been delighted with him,” said Appleby. “His preparation has gone well and he goes to Ascot in great shape – in better shape than a year ago without a shadow of a doubt.

“We couldn’t have been more pleased with the way he did it at Doncaster on his return to the track, or more importantly the way he’s come out of it.

“We know we’ve got a big task ahead of us, taking on Baaeed, but he’s 100 per cent the Adayar of old.

“We are relaxed about the ground. If it’s decent ground then Baaeed will be hard to beat, but if it’s testing we’ve got the experience in those conditions and we know he stays a mile and a half, so the stiff 10 furlongs will suit him.

“We’ve seen what this horse can do, he’s a Derby winner and a King George winner.

“Last year we missed our prep for the Arc and then ran in the Arc on bottomless ground. Then the Champion came just two weeks later on soft ground again. He still put up a creditable performance (fifth), but going into it this year it is a different ball game.”

Adayar had been in the frame for the Arc again, but Appleby added: “I’ve no regrets at all about missing the Arc. It was a great race to watch and I was delighted for Sir Mark (Prescott) and all of his team, but I’ve no regrets whatsoever about not running there.”

Sir Michael Stoute has not won the race since Kalanisi struck gold in 2000, with Pilsudski in 1997 the only other victor for the Newmarket handler.

Bay Bridge is his representative this year, having looked a superstar in the making when winning the Brigadier Gerard by five lengths in May, before finishing second in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and disappointing in the Eclipse on his most recent run in July.

“It’s a tough race against a world beater and last year’s Derby winner, but it’s the Champion Stakes, so it’s entitled to be,” said Stoute.

“After Sandown we had to stop him with a foot problem, but we’ve got him back now and we’ve been pleased with his preparation. We are looking forward to it.”

Baaeed is clearly William Haggas’ flagbearer, but he also runs My Prospero and last year’s runner-up Dubai Honour.

“Dubai Honour was second in the Champion last year. The softer the ground, the better, it’s probably not going to be soft enough for him,” said Haggas.

“He’s a good horse in his own right, he’s going well, he’s going to have cheekpieces on. I think he’ll run well, James Doyle is going to ride him and he gets a good tune out of him.

“The interesting one and the one with potential is My Prospero. He is owned by Mrs Tsui and by Sea The Stars, she’s very keen for Baaeed to do very well (as he is a son of the stallion).

“He’s a very talented horse. Unfortunately, when he won the Group Two in France, after the line he slipped over and had a crash with another runner that also slipped over.

“He’s taken a long time to come right but he’s right now. Tom (Marquand) rode him on Tuesday in a piece of work that impressed both of us. He probably wouldn’t want the ground too soft.”

Roger Varian runs Royal Champion while there are three Irish-trained runners – Noel Meade’s Helvic Dream, the Jim Bolger-trained Mac Swiney and Aidan O’Brien’s Stone Age, sent off second-favourite for the Derby back in June.