Queen Elizabeth II features clash between Baaeed, Palace Pier
They saved the best for last in the European mile division this year.
The Group 1, $1.1 million Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Saturday on Champions Day at Ascot drew a blockbuster field likely stronger top to bottom than what the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile will attract next month, and at the heart of it is a first matchup between Palace Pier and Baaeed.
Palace Pier is unbeaten in four races this year and has won eight of his nine starts, including five Group 1’s, with his lone setback a third-place finish in the 2020 QE II, run over a very wet course Palace Pier couldn’t quite abide. The turf Saturday for this historic straight-course mile is expected to be good to soft, which suits both Palace Pier and Baaeed.
Three-year-old Baaeed, who gets three pounds from 4-year-old Palace Pier, is undefeated in five races and passed his first Group 1 test winning the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, a turning mile, on Sept. 5. Baaeed got the job done in the Moulin, where he stuck somewhat closer to the pace than he had in his previous starts, won with breathtaking late moves, and comfortably handled the toughest field he’d faced before the QE II. Baaeed, a Shadwell Estate Company homebred by Sea The Stars, will need to perform at a higher level to win again on Saturday, but trainer William Haggas, who will give a leg up to Jim Crowley, believes that can happen.
“I was really pleased with him at Longchamp, and without undermining those behind him we’d had a little hiccup and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t at his best,” Haggas said earlier this week. “If I can get him there as he is now, you’ll see the best of him on Saturday.”
Palace Pier, a son of Kingman trained by John and Thady Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori, also plays his hand later in his races. He hasn’t seen action since Aug. 15, when he beat the recently retired 3-year-old Poetic Flare by just a neck in the Prix Jacques le Marois.
Three-year-old fillies Alcohol Free and Mother Earth get six pounds from the older horses, and Alcohol Free merits a second look here. She failed to stay 1 5/16 miles in the Juddmonte International, won by mighty Mishriff, but in her previous start beat 3-year-old and older males in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, a one-mile race at Goodwood she won by nearly two lengths. Alcohol Free landed the Group 1 Coronation Stakes over Ascot’s turning mile during the Royal meet this past June, but since that race and the Sussex were contested over courses that were soft of heavy, some going concerns come into play Saturday.
Godolphin has two chances, the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Benbatl and Master of The Seas, from Charlie Appleby’s yard. Seven-year-old Benbatl beat 3-year-old Master of The Seas in the Joel Stakes on Sept. 24 at Newmarket, but Master of The Seas, who’s intended for the BC Mile next month, needed that race coming back from a layoff and should improve in the QE II.
The Revenant tries to win his second straight QE II but won’t get the softer going he prefers. Lady Bowthorpe has solid form on firmer footing but might not be quite good enough for a QE II of this depth.
The winner of the Queen Elizabeth will be granted a free berth and paid expenses to the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Fillies and Mares
The 3-year-old filly Snowfall spent a good part of the summer favored to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before the bloom came off her rose Sept. 12 in the Prix Vermeille, where Teona handed her a shocking defeat. Snowfall made it to the Arc’s starting gate but never looked like a winner, checking in sixth, decent in a vacuum but somewhat disappointing for a filly who had looked so brilliant winning the Oaks at Epsom, the Irish Oaks, and the Yorkshire Oaks.
Snowfall, though, is widely expected to get back in the win column Saturday in the Group 1 Fillies and Mares Stakes, for which she was an odds-on favorite in early wagering as of Thursday. The short price has something to do with the good-to-soft condition of the Ascot course, which Snowfall should like better than the heavy ground she found at Longchamp two weekends ago, but also is a reflection of the relatively soft opposition.
The three shortest prices behind Snowfall – Albaflora, the Team Valor-owned filly Invite, and Eshaada – have combined to win zero Group 1 races. Snowfall, who won the Epsom Oaks in June by 16 lengths, should get back on the winning track and could use this as a springboard to a Breeders’ Cup race.
◗ Trueshan crushed Stradivarius on Oct. 2 racing over a very soft Longchamp course in the Prix du Cadran. The going Saturday for the Group 2 Long Distance Cup should be more to Stradivarius’s liking, but in early wagering Trueshan still is strongly favored to win again. Five-year-old Trueshan won the Group 1 Goodwood Cup in May and now is 3 for 3 in races contested at true European staying trips like the Long Distance Cup’s two miles.