Record-breaking Royal Ascot winner who earned owners £8,000 per second set to make Newmarket return
SHOCK 80-1 Royal Ascot winner Khaadem will look for more riches after being supplemented for Saturday’s July Cup at Newmarket.
Connections have forked out £36,000 to line up in the Group 1 race, a rather insignificant amount after Khaadem secured £567,000 at the Royal meeting.
Trained by Charlie Hills, Khaadem roared to success in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes under a classic Jamie Spencer ride.
Spencer was dumped to the turf just before the start but there were no mishaps during the race, as the pair glided from last to first to deny Sacred and Highfield Princess.
Punters were left stunned by the historic 80-1 success, but he won’t go off that big of a price ever again.
Khaadem will now have the chance to do a quickfire double when he takes on Commonwealth Cup winner Shaquille and Little Big Bear in the £340,000 race.
Hills told William Hill: “I spoke with Michael Prosser earlier and he says there looks to be a band of rain coming through on Monday evening but bar that and a couple of light showers, the weather looks pretty good so hopefully it stays on the quicker side and we can take our chance.
“I’ve always maintained he’s a Group class sprinter and his career shows that. He’s won some really good races like the Stewards’ Cup, King George and Palace House and obviously last time in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee at Ascot.
“He’s a very good horse and we’re looking forward to Saturday.”
Although the 80-1 success was a huge shock to most at the racecourse, Hills maintains it wasn’t a shock that Khaadem ran such a big race.
“He looked fantastic before the race at Ascot and he’d been in really good form at home, so it wasn’t a shock to see him run a big race, though I was a little surprised he won it!
“It was certainly a nice surprise and it’s a great credit to the horse.”
Hills won the July Cup with Muhaarar in 2015 but Khaadem will need to buck a longstanding trend if he’s to give Hills another famous success.
The only seven-year-old to win the July Cup was Shalfleet in 1938 and only two six-year-olds have won the race, the last being Les Arcs in 2006.
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