Timeform's Adam Houghton charts the career of Battaash, the highest-rated sprinter since Dayjur whose retirement was announced on Saturday.
Profile
After an unpromising start to his career, Battaash proved a total revelation as a three-year-old having been gelded halfway through the previous season, becoming an outstanding five-furlong sprinter and the best on Timeform ratings since the same owner’s Dayjur swept all before him in 1990. In fact, with a peak rating of 136, Battaash is ranked behind only six sprinters in Timeform’s experience, namely Abernant (142), Pappa Fourway (139), Dayjur, Moorestyle, Princely Gift and Right Boy (all 137).
Whereas Dayjur was retired at the end of his three-year-old campaign, the fact Battaash had no stud value gave racegoers the opportunity to see him strut his stuff for three more full seasons. Although hard to predict at times, Battaash won four Group 1s during his career, along with four successive renewals of the King George Stakes at Goodwood, a course which suited his trailblazing tactics down to the ground. He holds the track record for five furlongs not just at Goodwood (55.62s) but also at Sandown (58.57s), where he began his rise through the ranks as a three-year-old, and York (55.90s), where he won successive renewals of the Nunthorpe Stakes in 2019 and 2020.
Battaash was Timeform’s highest-rated sprinter in every season between 2017 and 2020. He also usurped Cirrus de Aigles as the highest-rated gelding in the Timeform era.
Battaash’s retirement was announced less than 24 hours after he had managed only seventh in his bid for a fifth win in the King George, with the Timeform report for that race summing it up best when describing him as “one of the best five-furlong sprinters of all time, a fabulous sight on his day, all power and speed.”
Pedigree Details
Sire: Dark Angel
Dam: Anna Law
Dam's Sire: Lawman
Breeder: Ballyphilip Stud
Foaled: 10 February 2014
Race Record & Factfile
Races: 25
Wins: 13
Owner: Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum
Trainer: Charlie Hills
Two-year-old season (2016)
Battaash was gelded after his first two races as a two-year-old to make him easier to handle, his unruly behaviour – his trainer likened him to “a bull in a china shop” – manifesting itself when he was very badly behaved in the stalls before the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot on his second appearance. The beneficial effect of gelding the evidently temperamental Battaash was not immediately apparent and, after his twelfth in the Windsor Castle, he threw away his next race, a six-furlong conditions event at Doncaster three months later, by hanging badly right after looking all set for an all-the-way victory. His two subsequent performances as a juvenile were a little more straightforward, though he continued to make life look difficult at times for his jockeys by pulling hard and hanging. He sweated and became worked up even before running his best race when third to Mrs Danvers in the Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket on his final start.
Three-year-old season (2017)
That Battaash would be transformed into an outstanding champion couldn’t possibly have been predicted from his two-year-old campaign and even his trainer apparently had no real inkling either, stating at the beginning of the 2017 campaign that his ambition with Battaash was to “try to find a listed race for him”. Battaash showed much improved form when achieving that aim on his first start of the season, in the Scurry Stakes at Sandown in June, before following up in the Coral Charge over the same course and distance three weeks later. Battaash easily won the Charge by three and a quarter lengths, the form looking well above the standard for a Group 3 race, and the merit of his performance was backed up by a very good timefigure as he broke the course record set by the tough handicapper Palacegate Touch 21 years earlier.
Battaash then headed to Goodwood for a red-hot renewal of the King George Stakes, where he ran out an impressive winner to really announce his arrival in the top rank of sprinters. Ridden for the first time by Sheikh Hamdan’s number-one jockey Jim Crowley, Battaash travelled strongly from the start and stormed clear when produced to lead over a furlong out. The Group 1 winners Profitable and Marsha, who had filled the places behind the US raider Lady Aurelia in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, couldn’t live with Battaash who beat them by two and a quarter lengths and three quarters of a length. The form looked as solid as it could be and the timefigure of 130 was the fastest recorded by any horse over any distance all year. The going at Goodwood was soft, contrasting sharply with the conditions for Battaash’s two Sandown wins and highlighting his versatility in that respect.
That performance teed up the mouth-watering prospect of a clash between Battaash and Lady Aurelia in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York but, in the event, the eagerly anticipated head-to-head failed to materialise. The Nunthorpe produced the expected tight finish but it wasn’t between Battaash and Lady Aurelia. Battaash showed at York that there were still issues with his temperament, getting himself too worked up beforehand to be able to do himself justice. He was considerably less tractable in the race than he had been at Goodwood and, though showing plenty of speed, he faltered in the closing stages and finished only fourth, over five lengths behind Marsha and Lady Aurelia.
Nevertheless, that would prove to be the only blip in an otherwise faultless campaign as Battaash later returned to form in no uncertain terms in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Chantilly, more than confirming himself the outstanding sprinter he had shown himself to be in the King George. Battaash was stabled away from the racecourse and brought in on the morning of racing and, instead of being taken to post early (as he had at York where he had been dismounted), he went down last. Much calmer in the preliminaries and at the start, Battaash dominated his rivals, travelling strongly in front nearly all the way and stretching further clear over the final furlong to win by four lengths and a neck from old rivals Marsha and Profitable.
Major races won
· Scurry Stakes, Sandown
· Coral Charge, Sandown
· King George Stakes, Goodwood
· Prix de l’Abbaye, Chantilly
Four year-old season (2018)
Battaash wasn’t always at his brilliant best in 2018, but he showed when winning the King George Stakes at Goodwood for the second year in succession that there was still no five-furlong sprinter in Europe capable of matching him when he was on-song. He was seen out twice before that, defying a 5 lb penalty on his reappearance in the Temple Stakes at Haydock (by a head from Washington DC) before being worn down by Blue Point in the closing stages of the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, passing the post a length and three quarters behind the winner. Battaash let rip from the start that day and went a fierce pace which saw off most of his rivals, but it left him vulnerable when he ran out of steam. After all, Ascot’s five furlongs is, for the most part, quite testing, rising steadily until less than a furlong from the finish, the last 100 yards or so being more or less level.
By contrast, the pronounced downhill gradients make Goodwood’s five-furlong course one of the fastest in the country and a return to that venue saw Battaash produce another top-class performance to win his second King George. The going was on the firm side, in contrast to the more testing conditions the previous year, and Battaash made short work of his rivals, cruising along close up before taking the lead at halfway and accelerating clear with fully two furlongs to go. Keeping on well, Battaash landed the odds impressively by four and a half lengths from the veteran Take Cover, who was attempting a third win in the race, and another previous winner in Muthmir.
That would prove to be as good as things got for Battaash as a four-year-old, with both his subsequent starts that season ending in defeat. He put up another flat showing in the Nunthorpe Stakes despite seeming to handle the preliminaries better than in 2017, eventually finishing fourth behind Alpha Delphini after coming under pressure a fair way out. Battaash then produced another underwhelming display in the Prix de l’Abbaye, staged back at Longchamp in 2018 after the completion of the track’s redevelopment. He ran better than at York, only to be overhauled after helping force the pace and leading outright for a while until the closing stages. In a bunched finish, he went down by a head, a short head and half a length behind the winner Mabs Cross.
Major races won
· Temple Stakes, Haydock
· King George Stakes, Goodwood
Five-year-old season (2019)
Battaash was Timeform’s highest-rated sprinter for the third year in a row in 2019, putting up a couple more electrifying performances to cement his place in the pantheon of the greats of the modern era. He once again reappeared in the Temple Stakes having had a wind operation since his defeat in the Abbaye the previous autumn, the second such tinkering with his breathing. Battaash had won the Temple only narrowly the previous year but, against five rivals and with Kachy and Caspian Prince setting a breakneck gallop, he came home two and a half lengths clear of Alpha Delphini with a dominant performance which was backed up by the clock.
Between Haydock and his traditional jaunt to Goodwood, Battaash again found Blue Point his nemesis in the King’s Stand Stakes. The pair were drawn on opposite sides and Battaash was left isolated in the first half of the race. Crowley got Battaash to Blue Point’s quarters in the final furlong before the winner found extra, with a length and a quarter splitting them at the line. It didn’t take long for Battaash to resume winning ways, though, as he went on to justify odds of 4/1-on in a much weaker edition of the King George Stakes than when successful in 2017 and 2018. Crowley didn’t allow him to bowl along with quite the same abandon as in previous years and he still did not have to pull out all the stops to beat the smart ex-Australian mare Houtzen by three quarters of a length.
As in 2017 and 2018, Battaash headed to the Nunthorpe after his win at Goodwood. Further measures were taken this time to ensure he didn’t lose his race before the start. He was travelled to York on the morning of the race, he was boxed from the racecourse stables rather than walked across the Knavesmire and he wasn’t saddled until the latest possible moment. Whatever else they did, it clearly worked as Battaash produced a tour de force to erase the memories of his two previous no-shows in the race. He was out of the stalls like lightning, tracking the very speedy pair Ornate and Soldier’s Call at first but travelling so exuberantly that he was in front before the two-furlong marker and had pulled clear over a furlong out. He ran on strongly in the final furlong and was by no means all out at the line to win by three and three quarter lengths, the widest winning margin in the race since Dayjur won by four lengths in 1990. Battaash also lowered that horse’s course record with a time of 55.90 seconds, a special feat which arguably represented the pinnacle of his career.
If that was the high, then Battaash’s performance on his final start of 2019 in the Prix de l’Abbaye was probably the worst of his career. There were mitigating circumstances, though, as he had to race away from the rails in a race where the draw was everything. Drawn 11 of 16, he was ridden before halfway and soon beaten, the race dominated by those drawn low (five of the first six places were filled by those drawn one to five). There was talk before the Abbaye that Battaash might run at the Breeders’ Cup, where his inclination to get on with things would certainly not have been to his disadvantage on the turning Santa Anita track. However, he wasn’t seen out again after Longchamp.
Major races won
· Temple Stakes, Haydock
· King George Stakes, Goodwood
· Nunthorpe Stakes, York
Six-year-old season (2020)
Battaash appeared a much more mature horse when returning as a six-year-old, seemingly unfazed by anything prior to each of his three starts and proving more controlled in his races, too, gaining consistency as a result but perhaps losing a touch of his brilliance as a trade-off for that. The lack of crowds due to the Covid-19 pandemic may have also contributed to the improvement in his behaviour in the preliminaries, most notably when he reappeared in the King’s Stand Stakes, the stage being very different to the usual Royal Ascot jamboree.
Nevertheless, the King’s Stand was still an important occasion for Battaash as he bagged the only premier European five-furlong prize that had eluded him up to that point in his career, becoming the first horse since Lochsong to complete the set (having already won the Abbaye and the Nunthorpe). With no Blue Point to contend with this time, Battaash didn’t need to be at his top-class best to go one place better than in 2018 and 2019, always looking in control of the race with nothing able to lead him. He tanked along with his trademark zest at the head of affairs and just needed to be kept up to his work after being shaken up over a furlong out, ultimately landing the spoils by two and a quarter lengths from stablemate Equilateral in comfortable fashion.
There was still no better sight in racing than Battaash in full flow and he was simply imperious when going on to record his fourth successive win in the King George Stakes, a race which developed into a virtuoso display of speed rather than a meaningful contest given that he returned an SP of 7/2-on. Reassuringly calm in the preliminaries once again, he made all to win by two and a quarter lengths from Glass Slippers with the minimum of fuss, even lowering his own course record from 12 months earlier under conditions tailormade for a top-class sprinter to do so (the going was described as firm on the Timeform scale).
The conditions weren’t quite so accommodating when Battaash made his next appearance in the Nunthorpe Stakes, a race run on good to soft going, though a strong tailwind ensured that it still developed into a pure test of speed. Que Amoro set a fierce gallop and Battaash, who was sent off the 2/1-on favourite, had to work slightly harder than expected to master that rival entering the final furlong, showing a tendency to edge to his right before asserting steadily to win by a length. Battaash was due to have one more run after the Nunthorpe as he tried to complete his first unbeaten season but, as it turned out, he went out on the high of York as heavy ground at Longchamp ruled him out of a fourth tilt at the Prix de l’Abbaye.
Major races won
· King’s Stand Stakes, Royal Ascot
· King George Stakes, Goodwood
· Nunthorpe Stakes, York
Seven-year-old season (2021)
Battaash had to undergo surgery during the winter after suffering a small fracture to a joint and he wasn't ready for a prep run before making his reappearance in the King’s Stand Stakes. Therefore, he had plausible excuses when only fourth at Royal Ascot, meeting race-fit rivals after spending 10 months on the sidelines himself. The fact he delivered his challenge sooner than ideal in a strongly-run race didn’t help his cause either, sticking to his task well all things considered to be beaten only two and a half lengths into fourth behind Oxted, Arecibo and Extravagant Kind, all of whom came from much further back.
Plenty of people were prepared to forgive him that run when he arrived at Goodwood, seeking a remarkable fifth success in the King George Stakes. However, after travelling strongly for a long way, his trademark finishing kick was nowhere to be seen this time, performing well below his best in seventh with excuses much harder to come by than at Ascot. It immediately became clear in the aftermath that retirement was on the cards and confirmation arrived on Saturday afternoon that Battaash had run his last race, bringing the curtain down on a glittering career.
