Baaeed was crowned the Cartier Horse of the Year at the 32nd Cartier Racing Awards during a glittering ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Tuesday evening.
The son of 2009 Cartier Horse of the Year Sea The Stars is the first horse owned by Shadwell to receive the prestigious award following an outstanding season that yielded Gr1 wins in the Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes, Queen Anne Stakes, Qatar Sussex Stakes and Juddmonte International.
Trained by William Haggas, Baaeed faced stiff opposition to claim the Cartier Horse of the Year accolade, with Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista, four-time Gr1-winning stayer Kyprios and Highfield Princess, who captured three Gr1 sprints in 2022, also nominated.
Baaeed received the evening’s premier equine prize, the Cartier Horse of the Year Award, and was also crowned the Cartier Older Horse following an outstanding season that saw him annex the mentioned four Gr1 races.
The outstanding Baaeed (Pic – Newbury Racecourse)
Gold said: “On behalf of Sheikha Hissa and her family I would just like to thank Cartier, Laurent Feniou and his team. It’s amazing that here we are for the 32nd year. As Chris [Richardson, managing director of Cheveley Park Stud] rightly said, we never take for granted your support of our industry and we thank you so much for giving us another wonderful night here tonight to honour our champions. To the readers of the Racing Post and the Daily Telegraph, and everybody who voted for this horse, an enormous thank you to them. And just a quick tribute to all those behind the scenes who work so tirelessly so I can stand here tonight to pick up this trophy.
“To all the team at Shadwell and Derrinstown Studs, who raised this horse, obviously to William, Maureen and all their wonderful team at Somerville Lodge. They did such a fantastic job with him, Ricky his devoted lad who looked after him beautifully and shared the work riding with Michael Hills, lovely to have a man of Michael’s experience there to keep us all calm when things were getting testing. I went to see him work one day, it was actually July Cup morning, and by that stage we were thinking of stepping up to a mile and a quarter. I said to Michael, ‘are you happy this horse will stay a mile and a quarter?’ and he said, ‘he will stay any distance you want – but I wish he was in the July Cup today, he has that much speed!’.
Laurent Feniou, Managing Director Cartier UK presents Angus Gold, Richard Hills, Jim Crowley and William Haggas with the Cartier Horse of the Year Award for Baaeed
“A big thank you to the lucky man who sat on top of him most of the time on the racecourse, Jim Crowley, who did a brilliant job, I’m sure there was pressure, certainly towards the end but he handled it beautifully and never put a foot wrong on the horse. Not forgetting Dane O’Neill, who rode him on his first two starts and put him on the right foot, and the horse himself obviously. We were so blessed to have him. As you all know, he had a great turn of foot, but an extraordinary temperament, the most positive, charming character. He was the ultimate professional and made everybody’s job so much easier.
“And finally, if I may, just to thank the man who made it all possible, who sadly wasn’t here in person to see the horse race. As a lot of you here will know, Sheikh Hamdan adored his breeding, absolutely passionate. He used to get films of all his foals and yearlings sent to him in Dubai and he would sit there late at night and watch them all, then ring the stud managers the next day either to praise them or criticise for something. He loved it from the bottom up. One my favourite memories of him was seeing him in Ireland, he was never more relaxed than when he was on his studs, walking round in his Arab robes and it was what the Irish would call a ‘grand soft day’, which meant a howling gale of about 40mph, and his dishdasha when I walked around the corner, peering over the fence, and as you can imagine the dishdasha was losing its battle with the wind and the yearlings caught sight of this and of course they had gone at 100mph in every direction. By the time I got to him, he had a grin from ear to ear and was absolutely loving it. He would have been so proud of this horse. It’s the culmination of his life’s work in racing and breeding. And he would have been very proud of Sheikha Hissa and his family who have taken on his mantle, so I would like to dedicate this award to Sheikh Hamdan.”
Baaeed’s trainer William Haggas joined Gold, assistant racing manager Richard Hills and Shadwell retained jockey Jim Crowley to be presented with the Cartier Horse of the Year award from Laurent Feniou, Managing Director Cartier UK.
Haggas said: “Angus has said everything about the poignancy of this horse. I would like to reiterate what a marvellous temperament the horse had, what a fantastic turn of foot he had and he was a privilege to train. I kept saying to Jim, ‘let’s try and enjoy this horse because we are never going to find another like this’. Although it was tough, it was a hugely enjoyable experience. What a fantastic horse. And I hope his second life will be just as successful. The last time we won one of these was in 2000, so I hope it’s not another 20-odd years, and I hope Cartier is still here and we will be trying to get here. I would just like to finally say a big thank you to my darling wife, who has had a horrendous year. She puts in so much effort, so much graft and deserves to be here, not me. Thank you, darling.”
