'His last performance was his finest - he was the best I've ever trained'

Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they tug on our heartstrings. This week's subject: Muhaarar

The deadly Dayjur didn't do it, and neither did the blisteringly brilliant Battaash. Limato and Harry Angel have been world-champion sprinters in recent years, but were never close to it.

The 'it' in question is the remarkable, unprecedented haul of four successive Group 1s achieved by the Charlie Hills-trained Muhaarar, who, having been reinvented as a sprinter, swept all before him in 2015, landing the Commonwealth Cup, July Cup, Prix Maurice de Gheest and British Champions Sprint Stakes.

Four consecutive top-flight triumphs is not something European sprinters, let alone three-year-olds, are normally capable of, but that spoke to the talent, mentality, constitution and handling of Muhaarar, a Hamdan Al Maktoum homebred by Oasis Dream out of Tahir, who reached a level of 93 when trained by Hills's father Barry.

"I don't want to say he was a slow-burner, but he was a developer," says Dane O'Neill, the sheikh's longstanding second jockey, who did plenty of the prep work at home.

"He was a very good-looking horse – I remember that from an early stage and you were quite struck when you looked at him. He had a great attitude, although he was a bit tricky to get on and off.

"He wanted handling properly and, because of that, we only asked him questions step by step."

Paul Hanagan, then retained rider to the late Shadwell supremo, concurs, saying: "It was a miserable day at Doncaster for his first run and the ground went soft – it was a bit of a worry for me because not many of Sheikh Hamdan's horses went on testing ground. That said, he went through it like a knife through butter, but he was very green at the stalls. I came to pull my goggles down and even that gave him a fright; that's how green he was. He was very professional when the gates opened, however."

Hills remembers the early stages of Muhaarar's juvenile campaign, which did not include a trip to Royal Ascot.

"He was always quite nervous, very funny with his head – just suspicious of everybody," says the trainer.

"After Doncaster was the only time in his life he had any vet issues or something wrong with him. He would have gone straight to Ascot but had a sore shin, although that was probably the best thing that ever happened to him. It gave him time to develop."

That development included a third over 6f in the July Stakes at Newmarket when he was overlooked by Hanagan – and not for the final time. The colt then kept on to be third over a stiff 7f in what was the Winkfield Stakes at Ascot, but then showed enough dash to land the Gimcrack at York over a sharpish 6f.

"It was hard to get his trip," Hanagan explains. "Everyone thought he'd make a miler but every race he was getting quicker. He knew his job better and he was getting stronger, although I could see where the mile talk was coming from because he was keeping on the whole time – even over seven furlongs at Ascot that day. I think it was pure ability that allowed him to do that though.

"His trip was still a bit up in the air, hence why he was 7-1 for the Gimcrack. We were still umming over the trip and had dropped him back after he'd run over a testing seven and I think the trip was a big talking point in his career.

He was up and down, but I expected a good run at York. After that, when he showed good speed, I thought, 'Yeah, this is a horse who'll go places'. I'm not saying he'd have been a four-time Group 1 winner, but I knew there'd be some good days."

One of those good days was expected in Newmarket's Group 1 Middle Park Stakes.

"I was a bit disappointed with him and thought he'd be closer," Hanagan recalls of the length-and-a-quarter third. "I finally thought he was a six-furlong horse and what does he do? Get outpaced over it and stay on at the end. We're scratching our heads again, so he goes seven in the Greenham, when it was poor Muhaarar, who got stood down by two jockeys as I didn't ride him and Dane didn't either – he made a total show of us!"

In Hanagan's defence, Estidhkaar was a shorter price for the 2015 Greenham – Muhaarar's first outing at three – as was O'Neill's mount Fannaan, so Frankie Dettori got the call up and third-choice pink cap on the 16-1 winner.

"Picking Estidhkaar didn't mean Muhaarar was a bad horse – it's just the way it fell – although for him to beat me a neck was a bit of a kick in the ribs," says Hanagan.

Hills has less sympathy for O'Neill, joking: "I think Dane rode him in work at Lingfield before that and still didn't pick him!

"He never struck me as a sprinter. He was out of a Linamix mare and seven furlongs was never going to be a problem. He broke the track record over it in the Greenham, but didn't surprise me that day."

Muhaarar had been in the mix for the 2,000 Guineas, but headed to Longchamp for the French version – the Poule d'Essai des Poulains – only for a car-park draw in 18 to cost him any chance.

By then Ascot had initiated the Commonwealth Cup, a 6f Group 1 confined to three-year-olds, so the Shadwell think tank, which included Hills's brother Richard, long-serving racing manager Angus Gold and the owner, opted for another drop back in trip.

It proved inspired as Muhaarar stormed to victory, announcing to the wider world what those closest to him had started to suspect.
Hanagan, however, was left cursing his decision to side with Adaay, who was trained in Newmarket, where the former dual-champion jockey was mainly based with O'Neill on duty further south on the Lambourn beat.

"That really hurt, seeing the black cap not just coming by me, but coming so quick," he rues. "I thought, 'How the hell could I have got this so wrong?' Again, they were two very good horses and I'd just won a Group 2 – the Sandy Lane – on Adaay, beating Limato, who was well fancied for the Commonwealth Cup. That's one of the main reasons that made my mind up – I just couldn't get off Adaay."

O'Neill was thrilled, for once, to play second fiddle. "We knew he was going the right way, but the way he did it at Ascot surprised me," he says. "I was able to ride him with confidence and I remember Barry being particularly strong about getting him settled, especially on a track like Ascot, then he'd show a really good turn of foot.

"He was starting to bloom. He'd impressed in the Greenham and then ran in France, but every week I'd be in at Hills's and you'd work him or see him work or work alongside him and you thought he was going the right way, even though maybe we were initially a bit disappointed we weren't going down the Classic-mile route.

"We still had a good horse – a quicker one than we thought.
"Ascot was a very special day, my first Group 1 for Shadwell and the late Sheikh Hamdan. Muhaarar was a horse I'd ridden a lot at home and it was tough for Paul but it was nice to see Shadwell in the number one spot.

"He's bang up there with the best I've sat on. My portfolio wouldn't be too strong on the track, but I've sat on plenty at home and he always had that bit of polish that made him stand out from the norm. You knew he was a nice horse, but you knew there was something extra."

Muhaarar narrowly denies Tropics in the 2015 July CupCredit: Alan Crowhurst

The July Cup, arguably the world's most prestigious sprint, was next and Muhaarar, the 2-1 favourite, was all out to repel 25-1 outsider Tropics.

Hanagan wasn't about to make the same mistake for the third time, continuing: "I wasn't too hard on myself after Ascot and I knew the sprinting division could be a lottery, but I thought to myself, 'Come on, you've got off him a few times and he's beaten you, let's not do that again'.

"I stuck with him then, and there are not many times I'd give myself a pat on the back, but I was quite proud of the ride I gave him in the July Cup. He was on his head and the ground was probably too quick for him and I just had to sit and suffer and keep him balanced.

"He didn't really handle Newmarket's undulations and everything went wrong but he still managed to get up and win a nose."

The 6½f trip in the Maurice de Gheest was probably perfect and Muhaarar was on top again, although it wasn't flashy and connections bypassed what would have been a winnable slot in Haydock's Sprint Cup for Ascot and Champions Day – a fitting finale for the star, who saved his best for last, bolting up by a commanding two lengths.

"I think if Muhaarar had kept going at four he could have been just as good and revered as Battaash," Hanagan says, referencing Hills's popular gelding, who also raced in the Shadwell blue and was more of a people's horse than Muhaarar but might not have been a better one.

Muhaarar caps a wonderful career with victory in the Champions Sprint StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

"Some people might laugh over that, but the feel he gave me that day at Ascot on easy ground was one I've not had many times. It could have been five lengths, I hardly moved on him and it was such a great feeling because I knew three out he was going to hose up; it was incredible. He was a very clever horse and there's no doubt he'd have gone on at four – he felt that good to me.

"Muhaarar is right up there with the best I've ridden, especially as a sprinter. He won everything, four Group 1s in a row is there in black and white."

The memory of that Ascot afternoon also has Hills purring.

"He was very impressive at Ascot and there can't be many three-year-old sprinters who won four Group 1s in a row – it just doesn't happen," he goes on.

"If he'd stayed in training as a four-year-old he'd have been sensational; the racing did him the world of good and his last performance at Ascot was his finest – 100 per cent. He bowed out on a high and he's probably the best horse I've ever trained."

Read other Fans' Favourites . . .

Pyledriver: rags to riches story of Coronation Cup hero

Starman: 'His only fault as a racehorse was his enthusiasm for the opposite sex'

Sire De Grugy: 'The whole racing world acknowledged us - it was special'

Trueshan: 'He can quicken after a long way and just power away, it’s relentless'

Denman: 'He could pick you up and chuck you out the box or take your arm off'

Desert Orchid: 'People thought it was an act of lunacy to run over three miles'

Sign up to receive On The Nose, our essential daily newsletter, from the Racing Post. Your unmissable morning feed, direct to your email inbox every morning.