Using Timeform ratings David Ord looks at where, ahead of his Group One debut on Sunday, Baaeed sits with the previous star milers owned by the Shadwell team.
It’s building up into being a memorable Flat season and if we were handing out gongs at this stage of the campaign – Baaeed would be a shoe-in for best emerging artist.
He faces his acid test in Sunday’s Prix du Moulin at ParisLongchamp, a first step on the Group One ladder.
He heads there with a Timeform rating of 125p and even seasoned professionals like Shadwell Estate Racing Manager Angus Gold are bubbling with enthusiasm.
How about this for a quote from an interview with Peter Scargill in the Racing Post last month?
"I think he's as exciting a horse as we have had at Shadwell for quite a long time," Gold said. "I mentioned that to Jim in the paddock before Friday's race, while noting that we had Mohaather last year, and Jim gave me this old-fashioned look as if to say there's no doubt this horse is better.
"I don't like beefing horses up - it's not my style and I know it's not William's either - but when he's done what he's done you have to."
The timing of Baaeed’s arrival on the big stage is poignant, emerging as he did on the racetrack in the months immediately following the passing of Shadwell founder Hamdan Al Maktoum.
His family, headed by daughter Sheika Hissa, are continuing the bloodstock operation and have a flagbearer to relish for the rest of the season – and as things stand – the next one too.
But where does he sit among the best Shadwell milers of the last 40 years?
Well he’s thundering up the leaderboard, a Timeform rating of 125p already putting him in joint seventh on their roll of honour.
He sits four pounds behind the three highest-rated horses so far – a trio that includes a horse already mentioned in this piece.
I’ve not included Nashwan and Salsabil in this list, Guineas winners both who went on to taste greater glory over further, but here in Timeform rating order are the leading Shadwell milers.
1= Haafhd 129
Winner of the 2004 2000 Guineas – a performance that ranked as the best of his career and earned this master Timeform rating. Barry Hills’ charge arrived at Newmarket on the first Saturday in May an 11/2 chance following a reappearance win in the Craven.
Given a fine ride, he tracked the early pace and showed a smart turn of foot to put the race to bed approaching the final furlong. Beaten in the St James’s Palace and Sussex Stakes afterwards, he signed off in style, handling the soft ground and step up to ten furlongs to win the Champion Stakes at Newmarket.
1= Lahib 129
Trained by John Dunlop, the son of Riverman made giant strides as a four-year-old. He won a maiden on the same card that saw stablemate Shadayid (more on her later) take the 1000 Guineas but didn’t see the track again at three.
He soon made up for lost time. Second to Selkirk in the Lockinge he progressed to beat Second Set in a thrilling Queen Anne and ran out an impressive winner of the QEII at Ascot. He also chased home Exit To Nowhere in the Prix Jacques Le Marois and Rodrigo de Triano the Champion Stakes. A horse equally blessed with courage and class.
1= Mohaather 129
A colt who finally enjoyed his day in the sun in last year’s Sussex Stakes. He looked a Guineas prospect when bolting up in the Greenham on his reappearance in 2019 but met with a setback and was reduced to only one more run at three, in the mud at Ascot in October.
He was back there for his reappearance at four when he never saw daylight at any stage of the Queen Anne, finishing hard on the bridle when seventh behind Circus Maximus. He needed to get his head in front next time – and duly did when dominating his field, dropped to Group Two level in the Summer Mile at Ascot.
And onto Goodwood where he lined up in a field containing the English and Irish 2000 Guineas winners and the Queen Anne hero. Again it was a troubled passage but switched to the centre by Jim Crowley he produced a devastating turn of foot to cut down his rivals inside the thrilling, final furlong. He was retired soon after following a setback and has just completed his first season at stud.
4 Marju 127
A very talented horse who won the Craven before returning injured when finishing only 11th in the 2000 Guineas. He recovered in time for a tilt at the Derby and ran a tremendous race to chase home Generous before switching back to a mile to win the St James’s Palace.
A half-brother to Salsabil, he retired to Derrinstown Stud where his progeny included another star miler in Soviet Song.
5= Maroof 126
Here’s something a bit different – a horse whose rating - and place on this list – revolves around a single race. That was the 1994 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and many thought he was in there to act as a pacemaker for fellow Shadwell runner Mehthaaf.
He indeed went to the front and under an inspired Richard Hills ride, stayed there. Quickening clear approaching the turn for home, he never looked like being caught despite the likes of Barathea and Bigstone trying to run him down. A one-hit wonder – but it was some hit.
5= Tamayuz 126
A son of Shadwell star Nayef and a top-notch miler in France for Freddy Head. He won two Group Ones, the Prix Jean Prat and Prix de Jacques Le Marois, beating the likes of Raven’s Pass, Rio De La Plata and Natagora in the process.
7 Bahri 125
Famous for his triumph in the 1995 QEII when in testing ground Willie Carson tracked to the far rail, he was a tough miler who took in seven Group One events in that calendar year, also landing the St James’s Palace at Royal Ascot.
He was within a neck of beating Sayyedati in a thrilling Sussex Stakes and the only time he finished out of the places was when below his best on a final start of the year in the Champion Stakes.
8 Al Bahathri 123
A trailblazer for her owner and a filly after whom he funded the creation of a communal all-weather gallop in Newmarket which bears her name. She was striking to look at and in a golden era, brilliant on the track. Her CV included wins in the Princess Margaret, Lowther, Irish 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes.
She was second, beaten a short-head by Oh So Sharp, in one of the great 1000 Guineas finishes, Bella Colora only a short-head away in third. “A very genuine filly and a pleasure to watch” wrote Timeform in Racehorses of 1985. A fitting tribute to the first Shadwell star.
Other notable names:
What’s a pound between friends? Just just missing out on the list are the brilliant Ghanaati, Shadayid and recently-retired Nazeef who all went to the paddocks with a Timeform rating of 121.
Like Baeeed, Ghanaati hails from the famous Height Of Fashion line and was fast-tracked from all-weather maidens to win the 1000 Guineas on her reappearance in May 2009. She then followed up with an even better performance when running out a decisive winner of the Coronation Stakes.
Her final two starts ended in defeat in the Sussex and Sun Chariot but on both occasions she confirmed herself the best three-year-old filly at her trip.
Nazeef was a slow-burner, opening her account in a low-key maiden at the July Course in June 2019. She signed off that three-year-old campaign with a win, from 93, in a Newmarket handicap and even a reappearance success the following season in a Listed race at Kempton didn’t foretell what was to follow.
It was a case of up, up and away from there, winning the Duke Of Cambridge at Ascot and a first Group One in the Falmouth just three weeks later. There was to be one final top-flight success too in a Sun Chariot run on desperate ground. She retired at the end of last season and visited Mohaather.
Shadayid was a grey filly, trained by John Dunlop. Unbeaten at two and winner of the Fred Darling, she duly landed the 1000 Guineas when sent off the 4/6 favourite. She was never to win again but ran well when third in the Oaks before dropping back to a mile and hitting the frame in the Coronation Stakes, Sussex Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. She even tried her hand at sprinting when third in the Haydock Sprint Cup.
Honourable mentions:
Two 1000 Guineas winners – both ridden by Richard Hills to Classic glory.
Harayir retired in at the end of the 1995 season with a Timeform rating of 119. There have been better winners of the Newmarket Classic but she was a thoroughly likeable one. She thrived on her racing and after meeting with defeats in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes and Falmouth Stakes, recovered to win three more times.
Those triumphs came in the Hungerford, Celebration Mile and Challenge Stakes before a late setback ended a potential Breeders’ Cup bid. She was quick and durable.
Lahan in contrast never ran again after the Guineas, a day when Hills felt she was among the very best he rode.
She’d only finished fourth in the Fred Darling on her return but back on a sounder surface at Newmarket was a revelation. Bursting through at the furlong pole to hit the front, John Gosden’s charge kept on strongly to win her Classic by a length-and-a-quarter. She earned a Timeform rating of 117 there and looked certain to go higher, but a setback meant she never graced the track again.