Battaash battles to Nunthorpe success and four-timer for Jim Crowley at York

Battaash had to work hard for his third victory of the season in the Nunthorpe Stakes here on Friday but he got the job done in the final strides, running down the pace-setting Que Amoro inside the final furlong for his second successive win in York’s Group One sprint.

Battaash, widely acknowledged as the fastest sprinter in the business, is normally in front by halfway but here he was forced to take a lead from Que Amoro, who raced along the stands’ side rail. As better-fancied opponents including Art Power and A’Ali started to toil on the rain-softened ground, Battaash dug deep to find just enough to haul himself to the front and cross the line in a winning time of 57.38sec.

The time was slower than standard despite a strong wind gusting down the York straight, which served to underline how much rain had got into the ground ahead of the final day of the meeting tomorrow, when the Ebor Handicap is the feature event of the afternoon.

“Relief is the right word,” CharIie Hills, Battaash’s trainer, said afterwards. “It’s not easy conditions out there, there’s a massive tail wind and the ground is loose and obviously not ideal for him He just had to knuckle down and get the job done and Jim [Crowley] rode him perfectly.”

The win was the fourth in as many races on Friday for Crowley, after victories on Alfaatik (15-2), Enbihaar (15-8) and Minzaal, the 5-2 favourite for the Gimcrack Stakes. All four winner were for his retaining owner, Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum.