Battaash justified his position as the 1/4 favourite, winning the five-furlong contest for the third year in a row - something which has never been done before.

 

The Charlie Hills-trained, Jim Crowley-ridden five-year-old son of Dark Angel, owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum, didn't manage the four-length triumph of 2018, but held off 16/1 chance Houtzen by three-quarters of a length.

 

Crowley said: "He's brilliant. Obviously he was not as visually impressive today as last year; he wasn't doing a lot in front and to be fair, I never used my stick on him today, just hands and heels. Maybe if I had given him a reminder he would have gone on and been more impressive, but I really didn't want him to go on and win by five or six lengths and have a harder race than he had to. We've got other races for him this year and I'd love it to be third time lucky in the Nunthorpe at York.

 

"He's a special horse. He's all speed and he probably only just gets five furlongs. If there were four and a half furlong races around he'd be unbelievable. Ascot just finds him out a little bit; it's almost like six furlongs there, but he loves it here. Hopefully it's third time lucky for the Nunthorpe.

 

"He was quite on it early on. We went very quick, as you would imagine. The horse who led me along couldn't take me any further. There just aren't many horses around quick enough to lead him. It was a great performance; fair play to Charlie [Hills] and all the team. He's settling down a bit - he was much better going out and going down to the start today, and he's growing up a lot. 

 

"Goodwood is my local track and it's fantastic to win here. It's a pleasure to be associated with this horse."