By Tom Frary
Practically unbeatable on Newmarket's Rowley Mile, Shadwell's Mutasaabeq (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) made all to annexe back-to-back renewals of the G2 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Joel S. on Friday and gain a fifth success from six visits to his favourite venue.
Always happy on the front end with the bias firmly for front-runners, the Charlie Hills-trained homebred son of Ghanaati (Giant's Causeway) had to work late to deny two others who have likewise been around the block but remain just shy of the very top.
They are the Freemason Lodge favourite Regal Reality (GB) (Intello {Ger}), who for some time up the rising ground to the line threatened to ruin the party for the 11-4 favourite, and the imperturbable Chindit (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) but their combined doggedness and three-pound advantage over the penalised winner was not enough. By hard-fought head and half-length margins, Mutasaabeq saw them off to add to his Suffolk tally which also includes the rescheduled G2 Sandown Mile in May, a 2-year-old novice contest and conditions event the following season in which he gained TDN Rising Star status. The returning Maljoom (Ire) (Caravaggio) was never able to land a blow and finished fifth.
“This was right up there with his best,” jockey Jim Crowley said. “He loves it here, he likes to get rolling between the three and the two and where he has folded in the past, in fairness when they came to him he kept fighting and toughed it out well.”
Charlie Hills added, “It is a case of horses for courses and he has got a tremendous record at the Rowley Mile. I think when he wins he puts a lot into it and so he can't put too many races together, although he is a little bit older now and a bit stronger.”
“When he won here as a 3-year-old, he looked unbeatable and he was not far off favourite for the 2000 Guineas just off winning a conditions race. He has been pretty sound through his career, but he has not had too many chances at Group 1 level. I've always felt he is up to it and I'll speak to Angus [Gold] and Sheikha Hissa, but we could have a look at America for the [Breeders' Cup] Mile–that could be an option.
“What do you do with a horse that has won three Group 2s? He is a good miler and he likes fast ground. I'm sure he will handle the journey and he only needs to improve a couple of lengths with the travel and the conditions and you never quite know. A track like this tests his stamina, but a two-turn mile at Santa Anita will suit him ideally.”
Pedigree Notes
Following on from Thursday's G3 Tattersalls S. win of his relative Alyanaabi (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), Mutasaabeq adds another chapter to the remarkable story of his third dam Height Of Fashion (Fr) (Bustino {GB}). A son of the aforementioned G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation S. heroine Ghanaati, he shares his second dam Sarayir (Mr. Prospector) with Alyanaabi and is therefore linked to the operation's current and very recent Sea The Stars (Ire) luminaries Baaeed (GB) and Hukum (Ire) and past greats Nashwan and Nayef.
Invincible Spirit's sire line also shows up in the family's G3 Cumberland Lodge S.-winning sire Mawatheeq by Danzig, the G2 Queen Mary S. winner and 1000 Guineas-placed Maqaasid (GB) by Green Desert and the GII New York S. winner Makderah (Ire) by Danzig's Danehill. Ghanaati also produced the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal scorer Wafy (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and the Royal Hunt Cup winner Afaak (GB) by Green Desert's son Oasis Dream (GB).
Friday, Newmarket, Britain
AL BASTI EQUIWORLD DUBAI JOEL S.-G2, £125,000, Newmarket, 9-29, 3yo/up, 8fT, 1:34.71, g/f.
1–MUTASAABEQ (GB), 135, h, 5, by Invincible Spirit (Ire)
1st Dam: Ghanaati (MG1SW-Eng, $720,406),
by Giant's Causeway
2nd Dam: Sarayir, by Mr. Prospector
3rd Dam: Height Of Fashion (Fr), by Bustino (GB)
O/B-Shadwell Estate Company Ltd (GB); T-Charles Hills; J-Jim
Crowley. £70,888. Lifetime Record: 17-7-2-1, $356,753. *1/2
to Wafy (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), GSW-UAE, $246,592. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Regal Reality (GB), 132, g, 8, Intello (Ger)–Regal Realm (GB),
by Medicean (GB). O-Peter Done; B-Cheveley Park Stud Ltd
(GB); T-Sir Michael Stoute. £26,875.
3–Chindit (Ire), 132, h, 5, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Always A
Dream (GB), by Oasis Dream (GB). (65,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT).
O-Villoo Poonawalla Greenfield Farms; B-J C Bloodstock & R
Mahon (IRE); T-Richard Hannon. £13,450.
Margins: HD, HF, 3 1/4. Odds: 2.75, 16.00, 3.33.
Also Ran: Epictetus (Ire), Maljoom (Ire), Mighty Ulysses (GB). VIDEO.
— !
MUTASAABEQ toughs it out to retain Newmarket's Group 2 event under @JimCrowley1978 for @cbhills ⚪️
— Shadwell Stud (@ShadwellStud) September 29, 2023
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