Adayar primed to throw down Champion challenge to Baaeed

PA Sport Reporters
October 14, 2022 2:38 pm

Last year’s Derby winner takes on unbeaten superstar at Ascot.

Charlie Appleby is well aware of the task facing Adayar as he attempts to rain on Baaeed’s parade in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot.

Having created a piece of racing history last summer by becoming the first horse since Galileo in 2001 to win the Derby and the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the same season, it looked as though the world was his oyster.

His season ended on a down note, however, with defeats in heavy ground in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and just two weeks later in the Champion Stakes.

This year, after an early setback, he arrives as the freshest horse in the field off the back of just one win at Doncaster against two inferior rivals.

The first horse to do the Derby and King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes double for 20 years!
Adayar takes victory! 🙌#ITVRacing pic.twitter.com/IsjdEGGkJh

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) July 24, 2021

“I’ve been delighted with him,” said Appleby. “His preparation has gone well and he goes to Ascot in great shape – in better shape than a year ago without a shadow of a doubt.

“We couldn’t have been more pleased with the way he did it at Doncaster on his return to the track, or more importantly the way he’s come out of it.

“We know we’ve got a big task ahead of us, taking on Baaeed, but he’s 100 per cent the Adayar of old.

“We are relaxed about the ground. If it’s decent ground then Baaeed will be hard to beat, but if it’s testing we’ve got the experience in those conditions and we know he stays a mile and a half, so the stiff 10 furlongs will suit him.

“We’ve seen what this horse can do, he’s a Derby winner and a King George winner.

“Last year we missed our prep for the Arc and then ran in the Arc on bottomless ground. Then the Champion came just two weeks later on soft ground again. He still put up a creditable performance (fifth), but going into it this year it is a different ball game.”

Adayar had been in the frame for the Arc again, but Appleby added: “I’ve no regrets at all about missing the Arc. It was a great race to watch and I was delighted for Sir Mark (Prescott) and all of his team, but I’ve no regrets whatsoever about not running there.”

Sir Michael Stoute has not won the race since Kalanisi struck gold in 2000, with Pilsudski in 1997 the only other victor for the Newmarket handler.

Bay Bridge was impressive at Sandown earlier in the season (John Walton/PA)

Bay Bridge is his representative this year, having looked a superstar in the making when winning the Brigadier Gerard by five lengths in May, before finishing second in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and disappointing in the Eclipse on his most recent run in July.

“It’s a tough race against a world beater and last year’s Derby winner, but it’s the Champion Stakes, so it’s entitled to be,” said Stoute.

“After Sandown we had to stop him with a foot problem, but we’ve got him back now and we’ve been pleased with his preparation. We are looking forward to it.”

Baaeed is clearly William Haggas’ flagbearer, but he also runs My Prospero and last year’s runner-up Dubai Honour.

War of a race! Sealiway wins the Group 1 QIPCO Champion Stakes at @Ascot for @mickaelbarzalon and Cédric Rossi! pic.twitter.com/jsAarEZH3H
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 16, 2021

“Dubai Honour was second in the Champion last year. The softer the ground, the better, it’s probably not going to be soft enough for him,” said Haggas.

“He’s a good horse in his own right, he’s going well, he’s going to have cheekpieces on. I think he’ll run well, James Doyle is going to ride him and he gets a good tune out of him.

“The interesting one and the one with potential is My Prospero. He is owned by Mrs Tsui and by Sea The Stars, she’s very keen for Baaeed to do very well (as he is a son of the stallion).

“He’s a very talented horse. Unfortunately, when he won the Group Two in France, after the line he slipped over and had a crash with another runner that also slipped over.

“He’s taken a long time to come right but he’s right now. Tom (Marquand) rode him on Tuesday in a piece of work that impressed both of us. He probably wouldn’t want the ground too soft.”

Roger Varian runs Royal Champion while there are three Irish-trained runners – Noel Meade’s Helvic Dream, the Jim Bolger-trained Mac Swiney and Aidan O’Brien’s Stone Age, sent off second-favourite for the Derby back in June.