Jim Crowley: “Battaash will be very hard to beat”

Coral ambassador previews the Prix De l’Abbaye & Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe

16:30 Longchamp – Prix De l’Abbaye – Battaash

Battaash has been quite brilliant this season and I am really excited about riding him at Longchamp on Sunday.

He’s got stall 11 which I’m really happy about as I wouldn’t have wanted to have been down on the rail with him as that forces your hand to get a position early.

There’s a bit of pace in the race with a few front runners so all I’ll be looking to do is get a nice clear run through the race, avoid any hard luck stories, and let him run his race. He’s coming into the race in great form and he should be very hard to beat.

We’ve won on him doing all sorts, we’ve made the running, we’ve dropped him in, but he does love to be close to the pace so I think we’ll probably keep it simple, and hopefully he’ll do the job.

15:05 Longchamp – Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe

I expect Enable to win. I’ve seen the back of her a few times – I was third to her in a King George on Ulysses – and I would love to see her win. She is very special.

Japan could serve it up to her and Ghaiyyath was very impressive in Germany, but I think she’ll be too good, and all eyes will be on Frankie.

Frankie is unbelievable. He just keeps getting better with age. In recent years we’ve seen Mick Kinane win the Arc aged 50, and Gerald Mosse is still going strong, so it shows that if you are fit and healthy there is no reason why you can’t ride into your late 40s and early 50s. Frankie is riding better now than he has ever done.

Enable / Battaash double

I imagine many punters will be looking to double up on both the big race favourites on Sunday, Enable and Battaash, and I can understand why as they both look hard to oppose.

Jim