The great Baaeed performs swan song in Champion Stakes

A lot of really good horses are racing Saturday at Ascot on British Champions Day, but all eyes will be on one horse, Baaeed, who bids for an undefeated career in the Group 1, $1.46 million Champion Stakes.

Baaeed has won all 10 of his starts and is heavily favored to go to stud this winter 11 for 11. He’s an odds-on favorite to beat 2021 Derby winner Adayar and seven others in this 1 1/4-mile fixture, run around one turn over a course that on Thursday was rated good to soft.

Flightline and Baaeed, Baaeed and Flightline – these are the two best horses in the world, difficult to compare, easy to admire. Flightline, the American superstar, tried 1 1/4 miles for the first time in his career Sept. 3 and won the Pacific Classic by more than 19 lengths. Baaeed raced over 1 1/4 miles for the first time Aug. 17 at York and beat the multiple Group 1 winner Mishriff by more than six lengths in the International Stakes.

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Trained by William Haggas for his breeder, Shadwell Estate Company, Baaeed has been the mount of veteran jockey Jim Crowley since his third race. Crowley, writing a blog for Coral, the British bookmakers, said he was “blown away” the first time he rode Baaeed, winning a listed race in July 2021. “I knew then we had something quite special.”

More than “quite special,” really. Baaeed won his first Group 1 in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp 13 months ago and capped his 3-year-old campaign with a thrilling neck win over Europe’s leading miler, Palace Pier, in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on the British Champions card. Nothing came close to touching Baaeed, a son of Sea The Stars and Aghareed, by Kingmambo, as he rolled through three Group 1 mile wins as a 4-year-old, and Haggas’s belief that the colt would be even more dominant over a longer trip was made manifest in the International.

Baaeed relaxes beautifully, accelerates instantly, finishes powerfully.

Adayar ended his 2021 campaign with two disappointing performances and didn’t make his 2022 debut until Sept. 8, when he smoked two rivals at Doncaster in a pure prep for the Champion. At his best – and he might be approaching it Saturday – Adayar is an excellent horse, but he’s running into something very, very special at Ascot.

Baaeed going 1 1/4 miles has left the QE II, a straight course mile worth $1.23 million, to a pair of 3-year-olds, Inspiral and Modern Games, with the filly Inspiral heavily favored in antepost betting Thursday. Trained by John and Thady Gosden, the daughter of Frankel is unbeaten in seven starts save one misstep, in the July 8 Falmouth Stakes, where she bounced following a powerhouse 2022 debut winning the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot by nearly five lengths over leading American 3-year-old turf filly Spendarella. Beaten in the Falmouth by Prosperous Voyage, Inspiral returned to beat older rivals and males in the Prix Jacques Le Marois, which she won by a neck over Light Infantry, hardly a household name.

In fact, it’s hard to understand why Modern Games on Thursday was four times the price of Inspiral, whom he gives three pounds. Still intended for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Modern Games won the Woodbine Mile last month by more than five lengths over Ivar, a multiple Grade 1 winner, and in two European starts over one mile this year, Modern Games won the French 2000 Guineas and was second to Baaeed in the Sussex. The Godolphin homebred, trained by Charlie Appleby, would not want the going any softer than it was Thursday and might prefer racing around a turn.

By contrast, The Revenant is a soft-ground specialist, and his connections would welcome rain for the QE II, which he won over a boggy course in 2020. Also worth noting is Jadoomi, an improving 4-year-old supplemented into this race for about $78,000.

Another Breeders’ Cup Mile hope, Kinross, rates among the key contenders in the British Champions Sprint, a six-furlong dash run over a shorter trip than ideal for Kinross, who won the seven-furlong Prix de la Foret over very soft ground two weeks ago at Longchamp. Creative Force was a one-length winner of this race a year ago over good-to-soft ground and is favored again for Godolphin, Appleby, and jockey William Buick.

Emily Upjohn, a tough luck second as the best horse in the English Oaks this spring, is narrowly favored over rising star Eternal Pearl in the Group 1, $560,000 Fillies and Mares Stakes at 1 1/2 miles.

Emily Upjohn has raced only once since the Oaks, throwing a clunker in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on July 23. Meanwhile, Eternal Pearl improved all summer for Godolphin and Appleby, while the Haggas-trained Sea La Rosa is a danger cutting back from a 1 3/4-mile score in the Prix Royallieu on Oct. 1.

The races start at 8:25 a.m. Eastern with the Long Distance Cup. The QE II is scheduled for 10:20, the Champion for 11 a.m. Don’t miss saying goodbye to Baaeed.

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