Baaeed A Star for Ricky Hall

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00:00Baidh needs very little in the way of introduction, very much the talking horse for the past two

00:07flat seasons, Baidh has the racing industry's full attention. He is trained in Newmarket

00:13by William Haggis and is looked after daily by Ricky Hall, who also accompanies Baidh

00:18to the races. Ricky tells us more about Baidh, his characteristics and what he means to the

00:23team at Somerville Lodge.

00:27I've ridden out since I was about 14. I used to ride out in my summer holidays. My brother

00:32was a conditional jockey. He actually works here now. I worked my way from there. I tried

00:42a few things beforehand and ended up back with horses. I worked at Luca Caranis until

00:49he retired for about 10 years and then came here. It's been pretty good so far.

00:56He's one of a kind, isn't he? He's a lovely horse. He settles well. He does everything

01:01we ask and not over too much. He's been the highlight of my career and probably will be

01:07the highlight of my career as far as it goes. I remember him as a two-year-old. He needed

01:14time. He was a lovely horse, but he needed time. Some of the lads thought a bit more

01:20of him than I did. He's just come on in leaps and bounds. Everything we've done with him

01:27is improved. As a two-year-old, we thought he needed a bit further than what he's shown

01:31so far. Hopefully, he'll prove that later on this month.

01:36We used to take him around Side Hill. He'd go around there very well. You didn't really

01:42realize how well you were going. I've led a couple of nice horses around there. When

01:48I pulled up, they weren't with me. They quickly asked what I was riding. He's incredible.

01:58The first run at Leicester was a bit of a surprise to us all. We thought it was nice,

02:04but where he came from in the race, the ground he made up, and how he finished that race

02:09off, we knew we had something special. I liked his run at Goodwood last year in

02:16Bonhams. I think he was stepping up to group company. He really put himself on the world

02:25stage a bit there. He went there and absolutely destroyed the field and wasn't overly expected

02:31to. He'd won his races up to that point, but it was a big step up. He did it very well

02:36and put it to bed quite easily. He's a very laid-back character. He'll sleep most of the

02:45day. In the morning, he's very easy to ride out, very easy to deal with everywhere. When

02:51he gets to the races, he knows what he's doing. As soon as he's in the parade ring, he switches

02:57off. He's in game mode. He concentrates a lot. He knows his job. He's the best horse I have ever

03:07dealt with and ever will deal with. He's the reason I get up in the morning. We've been very

03:13lucky and had a lot of good horses here. The last few years, it's been year on year, building

03:18better and better. To have a stable star like that, the whole team can get behind, it lifts

03:27everyone's spirits. A long time we've had a Dave here. He's been an absolute superstar. His career

03:33is just coming to the end. We've got Baez taking over the torch. He's just really picked everyone's

03:42spirits up. We've had a lousy couple of years with COVID and things. It's just been nice to

03:48have someone on the other side of that.