Brilliant Baaeed Remains Unbeaten in Queen Anne
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Photo: Mathea Kelley
Baaeed wins the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot
Baaeed showcased his claims as the best horse in the world yet again June 14 with a scintillating success in the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) to open proceedings for this year's Royal Ascot in terrific style.
The Shadwell-owned star was unbeaten in seven starts ahead of the meeting's traditional curtain-raiser and simply went through the gears to easily dispose of Real World to make it a perfect eight and land a fourth group 1 victory under Jim Crowley.
"It doesn't get any easier than that," Crowley told ITV Racing. "Everything went smoothly, he got a lovely tow into the race and I just let him stretch out in the last furlong. It was like clockwork.
"It's the absolute pinnacle, you spend your whole life waiting for a horse like him to come along and you've just got to enjoy it. There's a lot of pressure, but I love it. It's why we do it."
At 1-6 favorite, Baaeed became the shortest-priced winner in the race since Frankel 's similarly stunning performance in 2012, while it was the first Queen Anne Stakes win for trainer William Haggas, who was relieved his star got the job done.
"He didn't really do a lot and he wasn't extended fully. We can't really learn anything from that apart from he travels and settles well, that's a pretty important part of the job," he said.
Haggas is already eyeing a step up in trip with Baaeed, with the Juddmonte International at York in August his main summer target. He was clipped to 6-4 favorite (from 7-4) for that race by Betfair and Paddy Power.
Sheikha Hissa greets Baaeed after the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot
A tilt at the Sussex Stakes could await beforehand, though, for which he is now the 4-7 favorite (from 4-6) with Paddy Power.
The trainer added: "I'll speak to Sheikha and Angus (Gold, Shadwell racing manager) but we're quite keen to give it a go at York, it's whether we slot in at Goodwood in the meantime.
"He's obviously a good miler and it would be remiss of us not to try further. The easy thing to do is stay over a mile, but he relaxes really well. He'd be more interesting in the July Cup!"
A step back up in trip could await runner-up Real World too, with trainer Saeed bin Suroor confirming to ITV Racing afterward that he could next be seen in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown next month.