Sheikh Hamdan’s Muhaarar shifts focus to Ascot in October after Deauville victory

Colt has triumphed in three consecutive Group 1 races and six of his 10 career starts

Paul Hanagan riding Muhaarar, right, in The Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Gimcrack Stakes at York racecourse on August 23, 2014, in York, England. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Muhaarar looks set to skip the Haydock Sprint Cup next month in favour of a return to Ascot, where he burst on to the world stage in June.

Sheikh Hamdan’s immediate feeling after Muhaarar won the Prix Maurice De Gheest at Deauville on Sunday was to miss Haydock, and the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot on October 17 now looks the most likely opportunity to catch the European champion sprinter-elect.

Muhaarar's victory in France on Sunday was his third straight win at Group 1 level, after he became the Minister Of Finance's first winner of the July Cup at Newmarket last month since Elnadim in 1998. His victory in the inaugural Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot means he has won six of his 10 career starts.

All three of those Group 1 wins under Paul Hanagan were on good ground or better, but connections of the three-year-old colt do not anticipate autumn ground being an inconvenience at Ascot.

“He’s won there, and the uphill finish will suit,” said Angus Gold, Sheikh Hamdan’s racing manager. “By that stage, we’ll have had a bit of rain and Paul feels that won’t stop him.

“He won his maiden last year on bad ground at Doncaster, so that would look our favourite option at the moment.”

Dayjur was Sheikh Hamdan’s last European champion sprinter, and that colt proved dreadfully unfortunate in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Belmont Park in 1990.

Dayjur had scythed through the European turf season, winning six races and three Group 1 races before crossing the Atlantic. There, he was involved in an almighty struggle up front with Safely Kept and, after appearing to settle the issue, he jumped a shadow to go down by a quarter of a length.

Recompense at the Breeders’ Cup may well be in the pipeline.

“If he goes to the Breeders’ Cup it will be for the Mile,” Gold said.

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