Roger Varian is confident Saddadd can run better than his market position suggests in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this Sunday.
The Pinatubo colt marked himself as a promising type when landing the ever-competitive London Gold Cup last season. This season, he reappeared with a career best effort at Sandown, taking the Gordon Richards Stakes in good style.
Saddadd followed that up with a third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup. Bay City Roller franked that form with a Coronation Cup success, as did the winner Almaqam, who was just touched off in the Juddmonte International.
While he failed to fire in the Coral-Eclipse, Saddadd gained his elusive Group 1 in the Preis Von Baden, and he’ll aim to replicate the 2021 winner Torquator Tasso who followed up in the Arc.
Roger Varian, who trained Kingston Hill to finish fourth in the 2014 Arc and Postponed to finish fifth in the 2015 renewal, believes Saddadd can continue his improvement. Speaking to the Racing Post, the Newmarket handler said: I think no doubt he’s under the radar, and we don’t mind that. The question he has to answer is whether he’s good enough. It’s a strong renewal, and we’ll find out if he’s good enough on Sunday afternoon. But I’m quite confident he’ll outrun his odds.
“I do think the favourite will be hard to beat. But there are multiple Group 1 winners lining up against each other. What works in our favour is that he’s not had a busy summer. After the Coral-Eclipse, he had an easy time. For this time of year, he’s in the best shape he could be.”
Saddadd would be a ‘poignant’ winner, following the loss of Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum
The emotion would be heightened should Saddadd prevail, as he was owned by the late Sheikh Ahmed.
Sheikh Ahmed’s best horse was Mtoto, who finished a narrow second in the 1987 Arc. Roger Varian and Sheikh Ahmed formed a formidable partnership, and Varian said it would be a poignant winner.
“Sheikh Ahmed gave his blessing that the horse could run in the Arc” added Varian. “It’ll be very sad he won’t be around to see it. He’s a great, loyal owner of ours, and we’ve shared a lot of success. It would have extra meaning if he were to win the Arc.”
Despite being overlooked, Varian concluded: “He’s in great form and I don’t think he could be better. He looks to have come forward from his run in Germany. He did his final strong workout this morning and looks ready to go.”