IT’S a bit of a downer when the news came at the beginning if the week that we could not look forward to the appearance of the unbeaten Baaeed in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown next weekend.

The race is still shaping up to be a high-quality contest.

For a four-year-old, and a pretty lightly raced one – you would think that Leopardstown and then to end Baaeed’s career in the Arc would be something he was more than capable of – there is sufficient time given the French have their Arc trials the same weekend.

In this season of heatwaves and faster ground though the summer, perhaps ParisLongchamp may avoid the soft/heavy underfoot conditions of many recent years.

The Arc was the defining race to confirm all-time greatness on Baaeed’s sire Sea The Stars, who also took in York and Leopardstown as a three-year-old before he went to Paris.

The Arc though is a race, unlike Leopardstown, that can throw up unusual results.

In the last two seasons Leopardstown has attracted the best horse in Europe at that time, Ghayyiath and St Mark’s Basilica – the former had also won the Juddmonte at York.

The Irish race generally out-performs the Champion Stakes at Ascot in the World Best Races classifications. Last year’s winner St Mark’s Basilica was also rated higher at the end of the year than the Ascot winner Sealiway, so saying - as William Haggas seemed to suggest - that Leopardstown would not improve Baaeed’s standing, compare to a win at Ascot, was perhaps wide of the mark.

Discussions

It was also mentioned in various discussions this week that Leopardstown was a trickier track, often seeing horses hemmed in on the rail but that is part of the test of having a horse win there. It asks a different question of horse and jockey than York.

You have to be on the front foot and show quick acceleration off the bend. Australia was caught out. Sea The Stars passed the test. Perhaps Galileo did not. Golden Horn and Roaring Lion did it in recent seasons and Almanzor won both Champion Stakes.

His two earlier, albeit impressive, wins over a mile over the yet-to-win-a-Group 1 Real World left him well below Frankel and Sea The Stars, on the bare form. And the jury is out whether Mishriff is operating at the same level he was in 2021 when he was so impressive in the Juddmonte.

It’s the time figures that give Baaeed his high rating. The clock doesn’t lie we are told. The hope is that – if the Arc comes up on suitable going, that Baaeed wins and wins impressively. He has nothing to lose to give his all on his final run.