Baradar (Muhaarar) wins the Moet & Chandon International Stakes at Ascot for George Boughey and Amo Racing.
It was great to see Baradar win a valuable prize here. He is a talented horse on his day and was given a beautiful ride by Kevin Stott to get up close home and land the spoils.
The five-year-old was third in a Group One at Doncaster for Roger Varian three years ago, since when he has had a spell in Ireland with Johnny Murtagh before joining George Boughey last term. He made a successful debut for his new trainer at Doncaster in November, was third in the Lincoln on his reappearance and had since contested the Victoria Cup and the Buckingham Palace Stakes over Ascot’s straight seven furlongs.
Something like The Balmoral Handicap back at Ascot would be a viable target for him in the latter part of the season.
After the race Boughey said: “He’s a warrior. He’s never worn the cheekpieces and I said to Kia (Joorabchian of Amo Racing) that he’s not quite giving us everything.
“The ability is there – he was third in the Vertem Futurity a couple of years ago and he had Group One two-year-old form – so we just keep battling away. Fast ground was just too fast for him last time and he’s probably just a top-end handicapper, nothing more than that.
It was a good performance, great ride from Kevin and it looked a long way home because he is usually ridden with a bit more restraint, but I just said to Kevin just kick on and see how we get on, and it worked.
“There is no real plan for him, he could come back for the Balmoral at the end of the year and we will run him sparingly. He doesn’t take much training and I may even leave him until then. We might look at another big pot along the way, but we’ll see how he takes it.
“It can’t be soft enough for him so we can probably upgrade that performance.”
