Persistance paid off for Battaash who won Tuesday’s Gr1 King’s Stand Stakes (5f) at Royal Ascot in fine style.
Having finished runner-up to Blue Point in 2018 and 2019, Battaash made it third time lucky in the five-furlong highlight of the Royal meeting and stamped himself the best sprinter in Europe.
Having looked calm beforehand, Battaash broke smartly then travelled smoothly near the lead under Jim Crowley before bursting clear two furlongs out.
Battaash went on to defeat stablemate Equilateral by 2-1/4 lengths with three-year-old filly Liberty Beach a short head away in third – the time of 58.64 seconds the fifth fastest time in the race.
It is the fifth Royal Ascot win for trainer Charlie Hills, who admitted to being tense before the race.
“Fantastic, he was really on his ‘A’ game today. 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,” Hills said.
“He has been quite relaxed in his work at home, until Saturday when Jane rode him and 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.
“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.
“We didn’t really have a choice but to go forward. However, he always looked in command 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.”
Hills said defeat today would have been a bitter pill to swallow.
“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.
“We always think his ace card from the two to the one-furlong pole is that he can get horses off the bridle and he gets them all going whilst he is still cruising. Battaash is a very hard horse to beat when he is like that.
“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.”
Crowley ended the day with a treble and was full of praise for the son of Dark Angel.
“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.
“I would say he’s number one in my career. He is one of the best sprinters in recent years. He has so much natural talent. OK, he can throw the odd one in now and again, but when he’s good, he’s very, very good. He is just a super horse.”