Sheikh Hamdan’s Muhaarar a class above to win British Champions Sprint Stakes

Muhaarar ridden by Paul Hanagan leads the field home to win the British Champions Sprint Stakes. Getty Images

ASCOT, ENGLAND // Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid has waited a long time for a champion sprinter and Muhaarar showed he was every inch the best in Europe with a devastating success in the British Champions Sprint Stakes.

Not since Dayjur in 1990 has the Minister of Finance had such a dominant horse at shorter distances, and Muhaarar secured his fourth consecutive Group One win by finishing two lengths ahead of the previously unbeaten Twilight Son.

Sheikh Hamdan was on hand to congratulate jockey Paul Hanagan as he returned the three-year-old colt to the winners’ enclosure.

“Muhaarar had won three Group One races in six weeks and then we decided to give him a break to go for this race,” he said. “It’s a special day for the horse, the crowd and we wanted him to be here.”

Muhaarar’s brilliance has burned brightly this season but it will be short lived as in all likelihood he will be retired to Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell Stud in Norfolk.

Muhaarar went for a racecourse gallop at Lingfield two weeks ago in the build up to this 1,200-metre race and did not seem to appreciate running around a bend. His dislike will precipitate the end of his racing career as the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland is staged around turns.

“We had been thinking of America but whereas European sprinters race in a straight line, in America they go round a bend and that tends to slow the Europeans up, and at Keeneland it is one furlong and then turn and turn,” Sheikh Hamdan said.

Muhaarar dropped back in distance after he finished down the field in the French Guineas in May, but since then he has accumulated the inaugural Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, the July Cup and the Prix Maurice De Gheest.

All of those races were over 1,200 metres, whereas Dayjur was more of a specialist over shorter.

“They are different,” Sheikh Hamdan added when asked for a comparison. “Dayjur was very fast out of the gate, but this horse you can put him anywhere you like. I think over five furlongs Dayjur was faster, but over six furlongs or further it would be Muhaarar.”

If Muhaarar confirmed himself a true champion, it was Solow’s turn later in the day when he ground his rivals in to the rain-softened turf in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Despite the good to soft going Aidan O’Brien made the bold call to run Gleneagles after 123 days of ‘will he or won’t he run’ in some of the biggest races of the season.

When it mattered, Solow powered on to beat Godolphin’s Belardo, while Gleneagles faded in to the obscurity of sixth place.

O’Brien expressed regret at running Gleneagles afterwards, but winning jockey Maxime Guyon revealed he had no qualms taking on the Ballydoyle runner.

“We knew Gleneagles doesn’t like the ground and I know Solow did,” he said. “Gleneagles had not run for a long time, so it was not easy for him. Solow is the best horse of my career. I have now won five Group Ones on him and I don’t know if I can ride another like him.”

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE