Ascot Champions Day: Adayar 'delights' Charlie Appleby ahead of epic Baaeed clash live on Sky Sports Racing
Adayar heads to Champions Stakes at Ascot with 'fresh legs' after making winning return at Doncaster last month; former Derby and King George hero set to clash with unbeaten star Baaeed, live on Sky Sports Racing on October 15
Tuesday 4 October 2022 12:50, UK
Charlie Appleby is relishing the prospect of seeing Adayar lock horns with Baaeed in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot, live on Sky Sports Racing on October 15.
Last season's Derby and King George hero missed several engagements earlier this year due to the fact he was not entirely pleasing his trainer at home.
The Frankel colt eventually returned from 11 months off the track at Doncaster's St Leger meeting and predictably outclassed his two rivals, setting up a return to Group One level in the autumn.
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A second tilt at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, in which he finished fourth last season, was briefly mooted - but Appleby ultimately decided to keep his powder dry for Champions Day, where he is set to meet with the brilliant Baaeed, who will bid to crown an unbeaten career with an 11th victory.
Providing an update on Adayar's well being on Tuesday morning, Appleby said: "I'm delighted. In the last couple of months he's been showing the right signs again, they were what we saw in the spring and obviously what we saw as a three-year-old.
"I think people have heard me say before it was frustrating watching the Coronation Cup and the King George go by with him stood in his stable, but we've always felt we had to do what's right by the horse and we reached a point where we just completely let him go and said we'd let him tell us when he was right and ready.
"Going into Doncaster we were very confident as he'd been showing us the right signs and he duly obliged as you'd expect to see a King George and Derby winner win."
The Moulton Paddocks handler would love to see Adayar win a Group One over 10 furlongs to boost his potential stallion value and hopes his relative freshness will prove key.
He added: "Coming back to a mile and a quarter was something I felt was going to suit him - he's out of one of our homebred mares (Anna Salai) and is by Dubawi, so pace was always there.
"We're going into Champions Day with fresh legs. I contemplated running in the Arc, but we saw the conditions and we didn't want him to potentially have his last run in those conditions. Had it been good ground you can go to the Arc and springboard into Champions Day, but we didn't feel those conditions would be right for the horse.
"We're very much looking forward to Ascot and looking forward to him competing at Group One level over 10 furlongs as well as we believe he's got the pace to do it.
"It's going to be a great race (with Baaeed). It is what racing wants and it is what we want to see, two good horses going head-to-head. You only need two horses for a race and hopefully if those two turn up it will be good enough."
Whether Adayar will race on beyond Champions Day this year appears dependent on the result.
Appleby said: "If we're lucky enough to win I'm sure we'll talk as a team and say is that enough for this year? We could potentially look forward to next year and what may lie ahead.
"Or, if he gets beat and finishes second, do we look towards the Breeders' Cup as well? It wouldn't worry me travelling with him and he has fresh legs, but we'll get Champions Day out of the way first."
Verry Elleegant gets go-ahead for Ascot
Verry Elleegant will bid to get her career back on track at Ascot next week.
Last year's Melbourne Cup heroine is an 11-time winner at the highest level Down Under, but has so far failed to replicate that form on European soil.
The seven-year-old was disappointing on her first start for leading French trainer Francis-Henri Graffard in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville, but did improve to finish third in the Prix Foy.
However, with her rating having fallen to such a level that she was set to miss the cut for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, she instead lined up in the Qatar Prix de Royallieu on Saturday and was beaten just under five lengths into seventh place.
Graffard feels circumstances conspired against Verry Elleegant in Paris and remains hopeful she can show her true colours in the Qipco British Champions Fillies And Mares Stakes.
"Verry Elleegant will come to Ascot. She was very unlucky in the way the race was run at Longchamp, where there was no tempo and she was boxed in on the rail and pulled hard. She basically didn't have a race," said the trainer.
"It's hard to see such a fantastic mare beaten like that and it's upsetting too, but I felt that the race was over for her at the first bend when I saw where we were.
"Everything went against her and it's best forgotten, but she's come out of it well. She's happy and she tries, and hopefully things will go her way on British Champions Day."
Graffard is also planning to saddle Sweet Lady in the same Group One contest at the Berkshire track. The Lope De Vega filly has been kept fresh since winning the Prix Vermeille at ParisLongchamp last month.
He added: "Sweet Lady will also run and she's in top form. We decided to avoid Arc weekend and focus on the Fillies And Mares."
The trainer confirmed last year's Qipco Champion Stakes winner Sealiway will not defend his crown following a lacklustre effort in the Arc, but he will be send his 2020 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes victor The Revenant back to Ascot.
The latter, who was second to King Of Change in the 2019 QEII and fourth to Baaeed last year, appears to retain all of his ability judged on his runner-up finish to Erevann in Saturday's Prix Daniel Wildenstein - a race he won in 2019 and 2020 and also finished second in 12 months ago.
Graffard said: "He's in top form and has come out of Saturday's race very well. He seems to be as enthusiastic as ever and he has always run well on Champions Day. The softer the ground the better for him."
