Third time lucky for Battaash in King’s Stand
Runner-up in the last two editions of the race, Battaash (Dark Angel) finally landed a well-deserved victory in the King’s Stand Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) at Royal Ascot yesterday, the fourth elite-level win of his career.
Battaash had finished second to Blue Point (Shamardal) in the race in 2018 and 2019 but with the entire retired to the breeding barn last year, the Shadwell Stud-raced six-year-old was a bridesmaid no more.
Trained by Charlie Hills and ridden by Jim Crowley, Battaash led from point to post and was never challenged, kicking clear in the final furlong to score by two and a quarter lengths.
Stablemate Equilateral (Equiano) was second with Liberty Beach (Cable Bay) a short-head away in third, providing Woodside Park Stud shuttler Cable Bay (Invincible Spirit) with his best result as a sire.
“Fantastic, he was really on his ‘A’ game today,” Hills said. “He was beautifully relaxed before the race and as soon as the gates opened you could see he was going to be very hard to beat.
“He has been quite relaxed in his work at home, until Saturday when he was really quite strong in the first half of the gallop. I think he’d got to the point really when we needed to get a race into him. The race will do him the world of good, we can train him off today.
“It is a real shame that Sheikh Hamdan is not here to witness it, but it’s great to finally win a King’s Stand with him.
“I was slightly tense, but I’ve lived every emotion with him now. We have been beaten here twice before and, three times, I don’t think I could have dealt with that.
“He is just an amazing horse. Everyone in the yard is so lucky to have a horse like him – he is the horse of a lifetime. It is not just that, but also the character he has at home.
“Bob [Grace, groom] probably gets a stride slower every year, but the horse now goes at the same pace that Bob does. It is amazing the connection the two have. He might be one of the fastest horses in the world, but he walks so slowly.
“Everyone has done a great job with him at home including Victoria who rides him out.
“I watched the race where no-one could see in the concourse. I just thought thank god for that when he won and that he got the job done.”
Among his four Group 1 victories, Battaash has also won the last three editions of the King George Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) at Glorious Goodwood, and Hills said that looks like the likely next target for the star sprinter.
“Obviously we will have to speak with Sheikh Hamdan, but I am really looking forward to going back to Goodwood to try and win the King George there for the fourth time – I think that would be some achievement to do that,” the trainer said.
“Battaash has always been pretty good first time out and it would be fantastic if he could come back next year at the age of seven.
“He will obviously have had a race less this year too, so hopefully he is a fresh horse going into the autumn.”
As the retained rider for Shadwell, Crowley has formed an incredible association with Battaash having ridden him in 13 of his 21 starts and the jockey was thrilled with the performance.
“Every time he wins, this horse, it feels special, because when he wins, he wins well,” Crowley said.
“He was always doing plenty enough with me early on and I was a little bit worried that the stiff uphill finish might find him out, obviously having this first run, but you know, he’s a real superstar and he has done the three now – the Abbaye, the Nunthorpe, this and hopefully we’re not finished yet.
“He has shown no signs of slowing down that’s for sure! It was nice to come here and win and he seems to be getting quicker.
“He has just got so much speed it is just hard to find horses to lead him, you would love to have a tow to the furlong, but it is just not happening!”
Bred in Ireland by Ballyphilip Stud, Battaash (6 g Dark Angel – Anna Law by Lawman) was snapped up by Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Shadwell operation for 200,000gns from Book 2 of the 2015 October Yearling Sale – a bargain, relatively speaking, when compared to his seven-figure earnings, boosted by more than his own purchase price yesterday.
A son of Dark Angel (Acclamation) – the Group 1-winning juvenile who retired to stud at two – Battaash has now won 11 times, accumulating £1,542,758 (AUS$2.8 million approx) in career prize-money.
The gelding is out of Anna Law (Lawman), who is herself a half-sister to Group 2 winner Etlaala (Selkirk) and Bird Key (Cadeaux Genereux) – the dam of fellow Shadwell-raced Group 2 winner Tasleet (Showcasing).
Further back this is the same family as Group 1 winner Braashee (Sadler’s Wells) and Group 3-winning pair Adam Smith (Sadler’s Wells) and Ghariba (Final Straw).
Battaash is one of seven Group 1 winners for Yeomanstown Stud resident Dark Angel, who is represented at stud in Australia by Darley shuttler Harry Angel.
A winner of the July Cup (Gr 1, 6f) and Haydock Sprint Cup (Gr 1, 6f) Harry Angel will stand at Darley’s Kelvinside property in the Hunter Valley for a fee of $16,500 (inc GST) in 2020.
Dark Angel stood at Yeomanstown in Ireland for a fee of €85,000 (AUS$139,000 approx) in 2020.
O’Brien, Moore and Max edge out Gosden, Dettori and Terebellum in Queen Anne
The Frankie Dettori and John Gosden partnership looked set for a host of duals against the Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien axis this week and the latter came out on top in their first big clash in yesterday’s Queen Anne Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) as Circus Maximus (Galileo) lunged on the line to defeat Terebellum (Teofilo).
At his first start in 2020, last year’s St James’s Palace Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) and Prix du Moulin (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Circus Maximus dictated the tempo of the race and was challenged by Terrbellum with two furlongs to go.
The pair then kicked clear of the rest of the field, with the John Gosden-trained and Godolphin-owned filly getting the better of Aidan O’Brien’s colt before he fought back and got the bob on the line.
The Mark Johnston-trained Marie’s Diamond (Footstepsinthesand) came home a further three lengths away in third.
“We’re delighted,” O’Brien said. “He’s very tough and travels with a lot of speed. Ascot is usually a very busy week for us so it has been brilliant to see all of the preliminaries. We don’t usually get to see it when we’re at the races.
“I think he’s sometimes underestimated but he’s very solid. His best form is at a mile, which makes him more valuable and interesting. He loves getting eyeballed and toughs it out really well. He’s a very good horse.
“He is a Galileo from a good family and has a great pedigree. He is tough, has pace and is brave – he is a trademark Galileo.
“I think a mile is his trip. The problem is he is lazy and that is why he wears blinkers. It is only when the tempo is really high that he actually races so I think a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half trips don’t allow him to focus. So, I would imagine he would stay at a mile.
“Like a fighter, if you don’t get his blood up, he doesn’t really bother. The pace of the mile races allows him to get his blood up.
“I would say the Sussex Stakes is the race for him. He is very comfortable racing around a bend.”
The son of Galileo’s (Sadler’s Wells) victory provided the champion Irish trainer with his 71st Royal Ascot win and his fourth in the Queen Anne.
Moore, who was celebrating a 59th Royal Ascot success, said: “He is a very straightforward horse. They had their chance to come and beat him, but he battled away and fought all the way. I am delighted with what he has done today.”
Gosden, meanwhile, was pleased with the efforts of his runner-up.
“She ran a great race,” he said. “They didn’t go any pace which probably played against her as she gets a mile and a quarter. She hit the front and the other one just came back on the run to the line under a rousing ride.”
Bred by the Niarchos Family’s Flaxman Stables, who also race the colt with Coolmore, Circus Maximus (4 c Galileo – Duntle by Danehill Dancer) has now won five of his 12 career starts, which has allowed connections to pocket £1,083,049 (AUS$1.98 million approx) in prize-money.
The son of Galileo is the first foal out of the Flaxman Stables-owned mare Duntle (Danehill Dancer), who won twice at Royal Ascot for David Wachman, with her first victory coming in the Sandringham Handicap (Listed, 1m) in 2012 before she landed the Duke of Cambridge Stakes (Gr 2, 1m) the following year.
Duntle herself is out of the regally-bred Lady Angola (Lord At War), who is herself a blood-sister to Listed winner Lovat’s Lady – the dam of fellow Listed winner Chetten County (Giant’s Causeway).
Meanwhile, Lady Angola is a three-quarter sister to Grade 1 winners Honor In War and La Gueriere – the latter producing the Grade 2 winner Last Approval (With Approval) and Grade 1 winner Icon Project (Empire Maker), herself the dam of Fashion Business (Frankel).
Lady Angola’s other three-quarter siblings include Listed winner Lord Of Warriors and Lady Lochinvar – the dam of Grade 2 winner Master Command (A.P. Indy), Grade 3 winner Aurora Lights (Pulpit) and Listed scorer Street Lad (Street Cry).
Furthermore, the colt’s fourth dam is Lady Winborne (Secretariat), the dam of Grade 1 winner Al Mamoon (Believe It), Group 3 winner Lost Soldier (Danzig) and Born Wild (Wild Again), while the page also features Grade 2 winner Munnings (Speightstown).
Circus Maximus is one of five Group 1 winners produced on the cross between Galileo and Danehill Dancer (Danehill) mares which runs at 25 per cent stakes winners to runners. Other Group 1 scorers produced on the cross include champion mare Minding, Alice Springs and The Gurkha.
Galileo himself is responsible for 85 individual Group 1 winners, the most of any sire in the world, after breaking Danehill’s (Danzig) record when Peaceful took out the Irish 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) last Saturday.
The champion sire stood at Coolmore Ireland for a private fee in 2020.