Champion sprinter-elect Almeraq has been retired from racing and will stand at Shadwell’s Beech House Stud in Newmarket from 2027. The son of Dark Angel bows out on an official rating of 123 after a season that few British sprinters have recently matched, landing three Group 1s over six furlongs for William Haggas and Tom Marquand.
That would be a remarkable campaign in any year, but it is all the more extraordinary given where the four-year-old was this time 12 months ago.
Back from a horror fall
Almeraq had won the Ayr Gold Cup Trial off a mark of 90 in July 2025, but his three-year-old campaign ended in alarming fashion in the Listed Garrowby Stakes at York that September. Sent off the 15/8 favourite, he clipped heels and took a very heavy fall over a furlong out. Connections feared the worst, and while the horses involved came through largely unscathed, neither Jim Crowley nor Trevor Whelan has ridden since.
Haggas and his Somerville Lodge team deserve enormous credit for what followed. Almeraq returned with a gutsy neck success in the Listed Cathedral Stakes at Salisbury in May, and a month later he was taking on the world’s best sprinters at the royal meeting.
Royal Ascot glory and a Newmarket blip
Almeraq was a 25/1 shot for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at the royal meeting. Arriving late on from midfield to get up on the line, he beat Japan’s dual Group 1 winner Satono Reve by a nose, with Chris Waller’s Australian star Joliestar a short head away in third. That pair had seven Group 1 wins between them, with a home winner coming as a huge surprise given the uncertainty in the British and Irish sprinting divisions in recent years.
There was a blip at Newmarket in July, however, as Almeraq weakened inside the final furlong to finish ninth behind Comanche Brave in the July Cup. It proved to be the only defeat of his comeback season.
Haydock and Ascot crown a brilliant campaign
Given a break until September, Almeraq produced the performance of his career in the Sprint Cup at Haydock. Held up in rear on soft ground, he quickened clear to beat Paborus by four-and-a-quarter lengths, with the previous year’s winner Big Mojo back in third. That made him the first horse since his great-grandsire Royal Applause in 1997 to win the Jubilee and the Sprint Cup in the same year.
He signed off as the 11/10 favourite for the British Champions Sprint at Ascot on Saturday, and he had to dig deep, running down Paborus to win by a neck in one of the races of Champions Day, with stablemate Division third. He is the first horse to win the Jubilee, the Sprint Cup and the Champions Sprint in a single season, and he retires with six wins from ten starts and over £1.1 million in prize-money.
Almeraq heads to Beech House Stud
“He has done remarkably well to come back from a horrendous fall at York and win three six-furlong Group 1 races this season, which speaks volumes not only for his ability but also for his mental strength and resilience,” said Haggas. Shadwell racing manager Angus Gold paid tribute to the yard for “bringing Almeraq back from what could easily have been a career-ending injury at York last year, and turning him into the outstanding sprinter of 2026.”
Almeraq has the pedigree to match his race record. His dam Manaajim cost Shadwell 925,000gns and is a half-sister to the dual Group 1-winning sprinter Fairyland, and his family also includes the champion sprinter Dream Ahead. His 2027 stud fee will be announced in due course, and breeders will get the chance to see him during the Tattersalls December Sales.
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