Al Aasy defends Glorious Stakes title in style

Al Aasy came from last to first to successfully defend his Coral Glorious Stakes crown at Goodwood.

The William Haggas-trained eight-year-old claimed the fifth of his seven Group Three victories to date in this race 12 months ago before going on to land the Geoffrey Freer at Newbury in August and the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown on his first start of this season in April.

Despite coming up short in two subsequent outings, most recently finishing seventh in the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot, Al Aasy was a 13-8 favourite on his return to the Sussex Downs and after being settled at the rear of the five-strong field for much of the way, he picked up well when asked to go about his business by Jim Crowley to run down his rivals and pull three lengths clear of Meydaan at the line.

Haggas told Racing TV: “He’s terrific, isn’t he? He’s a fabulous horse. He’s pretty reliable in this grade when things set up like that.

“They didn’t go very fast today and he usually likes a stronger pace and they slow down a bit, but they picked up well up the straight and he still found a gear. He actually ran on strongly today as usually he wins by half a length or a neck.

“He’s been called some names in the past and I wish people would respect him for what he is. He’s a very talented horse, he just needs to be ridden like that – you need to wait and wait and wait.

“I haven’t put him a Group One race and we think at eight years old this is probably his level, Listed and Group Three races and maybe the odd Group Two are fine for him. He’s a useful horse.

“He’s a very strong traveller, so you can imagine at home when we don’t get them off the bridle he looks like Nijinsky every time! He catches the eye every morning, so he’s been a joy for us.”