Juddmonte International (Group 1)

ALL talk at York on Wednesday was about one horse whrere, in stepping up to an extended 10 furlongs for the first time, Baaeed was attempting to graduate from ‘superstar miler’ to ‘all-time great’.

The circumstances of the contest allowed him to produce a scintillating performance to beat an on-song Mishriff (John & Thady Gosden/James Doyle) by a yawning six and a half lengths, with outsider Sir Busker (William Knight/Ben Curtis) getting up late for third, a respectable nine lengths behind the outstanding winner, who was bringing his career record to 10 wins from as many runs.

As expected, High Definition set a strong pace from the start, with Mishriff away on terms and soon slotting into a stalking role in second, with the favourite held up.

Mishriff tackled High Definition with two furlongs to go, and soon had his measure, but Baaeed was always travelling sweetly for Jim Crowley, and the 2/5 favourite merely had to be shaken up at the furlong market to come right away for his most impressive success.

Dug deeper

There seems no reason to doubt that Mishriff had run close to his best, and this was the performance Baaeed’s admirers had long been anticipating. Thanks to being dragged into the race by a horse of Mishriff’s class, Baaeed was forced to dig a little deeper than he’s had to so far, and what he found left no-one disappointed.

Timeform handed the winner a revised rating of 137, the Racing Post’s handicappers went 138, and the official handicapper went with a slightly more conservative 135, but there is no doubt that his new assessment is justified, and the ease with which he had been toying with his rivals at a mile suggested that it was just a matter of finding the right scenario to unlock such a performance.

Comparisons with the likes of Frankel remain controversial, but Jim Crowley was in no doubt about the merit of his mount, as he spoke in the aftermath of this latest Group 1 triumph.

“Baaeed has got everything,” gushed Crowley. “He’s the perfect racehorse. I’m not joking here - he’d win a July Cup all the way up to a mile and a half, he has everything. He’s as good as the greats.”

Future plans

We can only hope that Crowley’s opinion that Baaeed could beat the very best at a mile and a half gets tested, but it seems unlikely that he will take his place in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, with the Champion Stakes the preferred option for his finale, and he is destined to go to stud at the end of the season. William Haggas has been openly sceptical about an Arc bid but was at pains on Thursday to say that nothing has been ruled out.

“I’m open to suggestions,” said Haggas on Nick Luck’s daily podcast. “That’s always been our plan to go to Ascot, but plans can change. I’m not saying for a minute they’re going to, but the only thing I will say is it’s nearly two months now to Champions Day and that’s quite a long time.” A run in the Irish Champion Stakes beforehand is possible too.