Mostahdaf pointing towards swansong in Breeders’ Cup

Ashley Iveson
October 22, 2023 11:57 am

Ground conditions ruled one of this season’s star performers out of Champion Stakes.

Mostahdaf looks set to round off his career in the Breeders’ Cup Turf next month, after connections opted to sidestep Saturday’s Qipco Champion Stakes due to unsuitable ground.

Having proved his top-level capabilities by winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Juddmonte International at York, John and Thady Gosden’s five-year-old was well fancied to complete his Group One hat-trick on Champions Day – but his team had warned his participation was ground dependent.

And while Gosden and owners Shadwell initially gave the go-ahead after walking the track before racing, the attritional nature of the curtain-raising Long Distance Cup prompted a rethink.

Sheikha Hissa and Angus Gold at York (Mike Egerton/PA)

“John and I walked the track, as everyone knows, and I thought it walked surprisingly well considering the rain they’ve had. I thought it walked good to soft and a bit softer down in Swinley Bottom,” said Shadwell’s racing manager Angus Gold.

“At that stage we were both thinking it was going to be OK to run on, albeit it wasn’t going to be in his favour, and then after the first race the first two jockeys I spoke to were the reigning champion jockey (William Buick), who described it as horrible and heavy, and Rab Havlin, who was third, said it was heavy.

“John and I had another look at it and spoke to Sheikha Hissa and said, ‘look, it’s your decision, but the ground isn’t going to be in his favour’, and John just felt it wasn’t fair on the horse ending his career in ground we know he doesn’t like – he couldn’t hobble on it in the Arc last year.

“With the option of the Breeders’ Cup still to come, there didn’t seem any point in bowing out on a low note when we can go to California with a chance of running him on fast ground in a couple of weeks’ time if he’s still well.”

Mostahdaf winning at Royal Ascot (David Davies/PA)

Mostahdaf will be returning to a mile and a half for the first time since finishing fourth to Japanese ace Equinox in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March if he does contest the Breeders’ Cup Turf – but Gold does not see the extra distance being a major issue.

He added: “His best form here recently has been over a mile and a quarter, but over an American mile and a half, going down that hill for the first four furlongs or whatever it is, I think he’ll stay it. Whether he’ll win over it I can’t tell you, but I don’t think it will be that (stamina) that beats him.

“He’s a five-year-old now who has done brilliantly this year and I think if he does go to America that will be his last run.”