Baaeed lives up to expectations in the Juddmonte International at York
Baaeed lives up to expectations in the Juddmonte International at York

Baaeed to Ascot: David Ord on the task he faces


While disappointed to see Baaeed swerve the Arc, David Ord feels he could still face a significant test in the QIPCO Champion Stakes.

It’s off.

Two words in a WhatsApp group on Wednesday afternoon that confirmed the Baaeed team had decided to stick to Plan A with their unbeaten superstar.

It was a cause celebre for the media, us included, to see him line-up in the Arc at ParisLongchamp but, despite the door to a trip across the Channel seeming to creak open for a week or two, it's now firmly closed.

What wasn’t to like about the unbeaten superstar signing off in Europe’s most prestigious all-age race? It would have been a career-defining moment for a colt who looks to be the best horse yet produced by the late Hamdan Al Maktoum’s remarkable Height Of Fashion line.

And what would have beaten him?

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Well, the nagging doubts in the back of connections' minds weren’t potential opponents but the unholy trinity of stamina, ground and draw.

There was no disguising in William Haggas’ chat on Thursday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast how the defeat of Sea Of Class from stall 18 in the 2018 renewal hurt at the time – and still does today.

Asked what his concerns about the Arc were, the trainer said: “The ground is obviously a factor but the trip is a factor. If the ground is soft in the Arc it becomes a race for the stayers. And that’s what can beat him. He’s not a guaranteed stayer. He has brilliance and the ability to travel well, but a soft-ground Arc makes that difficult.

“We got stung the other year in the Arc when we got drawn 18 and had to ride Sea Of Class cold which we’d all decided to do and she maybe should have won. That hurts me a bit. There’s no doubt the draw beat her and favoured the favourite Enable who was drawn low.

“The ground that day was extraordinary. I walked it and the fresh strip was virgin and beautiful and outside that, where they’d raced previously – well, it wasn’t ploughed but it was unattractive. It wasn’t ground you’d want to race on, and I don’t want that scenario for him either. If you supplement then get drawn 16 what do you do?

"There are too many questions and a lot of people have talked about us being gutless for not doing it. I don’t think we’re gutless at all. We have a marvellous horse and I'd love him to have his last race in front of the British public on QIPCO British Champions day.”

Variations – some clever, some not – on the Sad, Mad, Bad headline that roared across the Racing Post front page in the summer of 1995 as Tony Morris responded to the news that champion two-year-old Celtic Swing was to swerve the Derby at Epsom and run in the French equivalent, flooded Twitter.

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It’s worth pointing out that history, or should that be hindsight, points to it being the correct decision as Celtic Swing won at Chantilly and it’s hard to provide a convincing argument that he’d have mastered Lammtarra at Epsom a few days earlier given the prevailing conditions.

So yes it’s easy to be disappointed by the decision to swerve the Arc with Baaeed, but it’s not gutless – and whisper it quietly – he could actually be in deeper waters at Ascot.

By the week legitimate Arc contenders grow thinner on the ground.

Only days before we saw the potential headline act booked for an alternative festival, ParisLongchamp staged their trials meeting which the general view was – and remains – will have a limited impact on the big race itself.

There’s no Derby or King George winner in there with Desert Crown and Pyledriver both sadly sidelined.

Favourite now is the last horse to play his hand – Luxembourg – who won the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown to belatedly give Aidan O’Brien an ace to play.

Alpinista is a Group One-winning machine who represents wonderful connections, while Frankie Dettori’s mount Torquator Tasso won the race last year but has failed to scale the same heights since.

At least his rider will be fresh having picked up a suspension on him in Germany – and another in the St Leger – both of which sandwich this race. He needs rain though – Torquator Tasso, not Frankie.

We’re not talking Dancing Brave being asked to cut down Bering, Shahrastani, Tryptych, Shardari and Acatenango in the dying embers of the Longchamp straight in the autumn of 1986 here.

But there are three others lingering in the ante-post lists who are also firmly in the mix for the Champion Stakes, namely Vadeni, Adayar and Onesto. It will be fascinating to see where they go.

There are some who argue the former remains the top three-year-old on the continent despite his defeat at Leopardstown and, however you read that race, he clearly didn’t get a clear shot at Luxembourg. It was a run that had connections thinking aloud afterwards that the Champion Stakes rather than the Arc could be a smarter next move.

That was how Charlie Appleby was initially thinking with Adayar, too, after last year’s Derby winner proved the fire still burns with a routine win in a three-runner conditions race at Doncaster on his belated reappearance

Maybe the lack of an obvious alternative in the royal blue silks for Paris might lead to an about-turn, but the presence of Baaeed certainly won’t scare off the Onesto team. Well seemingly. He was second behind Luxembourg in Ireland and the ground at ParisLongchamp – rather than the presence of an unbeaten Shadwell star at Ascot – will determine his target.

“Baaeed is definitely the horse around from what we have seen, but we like a challenge!” said trainer Fabrice Chappet.

The first cards were played by team Baaeed, but it’s clear that three other sets of connections have significant decisions to make.

And if two or three opt for Ascot then all of a sudden we have the sort of renewal of the Champion Stakes that was first envisaged when the QIPCO support and changes to the race programme allowed the inception of British Champions Day.

For all it’s a huge shame we won’t see him in the Arc, Baaeed could still face his biggest test of his career on his final start.


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