Charlie Appleby has announced that the 2021 Derby and King George winner Adayar will return next season – but a run at the Breeders’ Cup is now looking unlikely.
Having missed most of the season, the son of Frankel made light work of a belated return to the track in a Doncaster conditions race during the St Leger Festival, but the real test of whether he retained all of his ability came in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, where the four-year-old faced the mammoth task of taking on Baaeed.
Having come through his British Champions Day assignment with flying colours and going down on his sword to finish second to Bay Bridge, Appleby is resisting the temptation to add the four-time winner to his Breeders’ Cup squad and will instead focus on a five-year-old career which will be geared around the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in the early part of the season.
William Buick glances behind as Adayar wins easily at Doncaster
“He’s in good order and has come out of Ascot with no problems at all,” said Appleby.
“The likelihood is he is done for the year and won’t go to the Breeders’ Cup, but I was delighted to see him put up a performance like that.
“The horse has won a King George and a Derby, but when you have your first run in a conditions race and won the way that he did, and you then step back up into Group One company, there is always going to be that question mark – can they still do it and will he want to do it?
“But I think he showed us there on Saturday he can, and will, and he stays in training for next year.”
When asked what trip Adayar will be campaigned over next season, the Moulton Paddocks handler added: “Ten or 12 furlongs really, he’s a bit like Ghaiyyath.
“But I would quite like to see him win a Group One over 10 furlongs for his own profile and we would work back from the Prince of Wales’s.”
