Matt Brocklebank reflects on Sunday's Prix du Moulin as Baaeed kept his unblemished record but failed to blow his opposition away.
How impressive was Baaeed on Sunday?
Not wildly impressive, is the short answer, but there's clearly a bit more to it than that.
With a perfect 4-4 record and sent off 1/2 favourite on his Group One debut, Baaeed clearly didn't disappoint, but trainer William Haggas and the Shadwell Estate team could be forgiven for feeling a little more relieved than super-excited amid the post-race afterglow.
The times from Newmarket and Goodwood earlier in the season told us we were dealing with a far from ordinary colt, while the six and a half-length defeat of El Drama - the same distance that horse was beaten by star three-year-old St Mark's Basilica in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown in July - added a little more flesh to the bones in terms of Baaeed's current and potential stature in the miling division.
All that helped contribute to the hype heading into Sunday's much-anticipated Prix Moulin de Longchamp, with Jamie Lynch even playfully suggesting in his final thoughts on Sky Sports Racing that we could be about to see the emergence of the next Frankel, Kingman or Sea The Stars, this horse's sire.
But that kind of talk, on this evidence at least, looks a little wide of the mark with Baaeed winning 'driven out' by a length and a quarter from last year's shock Breeders' Cup Mile winner Order Of Australia. The talented but undoubtedly tricky customer Victor Ludorum was another neck back in third, while it's hard to imagine Snow Lantern ran up to her Falmouth (or Sussex Stakes) form with a rather laboured effort in fourth.
After Poetic Flare ducked the task in favour of the Irish Champion Stakes, this race lacked depth and Baaeed needed to stamp himself by really putting the likes of Order Of Australia to the sword. That simply wasn't the case.
What can we expect on QIPCO British Champions Day?
Despite hardly knocking the eye out in terms of the winning margin or style of victory at Longchamp, bookmakers reacted with the inevitable cut to Baaeed's price for his big, end-of-season target - the QEII at Ascot.
Most firms went 2/1 from 5/2 immediately after the race and there weren't many alterations with the odd layer going 15/8 and William Hill, Betfred and BoyleSports standing firm at 9/4, effectively making him joint-favourite with Palace Pier. For context, Order Of Australia can still be backed at 40/1 and 50/1 (though bet365 slashed him to 14/1).
Suggesting Baaeed significantly enhanced his QEII claims on the back of winning the Moulin looks a stretch and as the dust settles into next week it's not be hard to imagine Palace Pier regaining outright favouritism.
The Gosden horse has won five Group Ones at a mile, buried his supposed Ascot hoodoo (had excuses in the 2020 QEII) when winning the Queen Anne this summer, and beat Poetic Flare and Order Of Australia despite reportedly being 80% fit after a blood issue in the run-up to the Jacques le Marois last month.
So unless Baaeed can find another 7lb of improvement from somewhere in the next six weeks, he could be in some trouble.
Yet to be beaten - yes. Unbeatable? Not quite yet.
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