The ownership group of Verry Elleegant reportedly proposed a lucrative match race with connections of Addeybb on Saturday.
SEN Track’s Campbell Brown says that after the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick, the Verry Elleegant camp offered to put up $5 million to take on the William Haggas-trained Addeybb for a third time this autumn.
It is understood that the connections of Addeybb, who were asked to put up $5m of their own money, knocked back the proposal as they have plans to travel the horse back to England this Wednesday.
“It has come across my table that connections of Verry Elleegant made contact with William Haggas post-race and offered $5 million and asked if Ahmed Al Maktoum, the owner of Addeybb, would match that,” Brown said.
“A match race for a $10 million purse between the two of them in three weeks’ time.
“William Haggas politely declined the offer because Addeybb is booked to return to compete at Royal Ascot.
“That is massive news. It’s factual. They put forward a match race between the two which would have been scintillating.”
The Verry Elleegant v Addeybb battle has captured the imagination of the public with some fabulous battles including the weekend’s Group 1 over 2000 metres which was won by the international visitor following the Ranvet win of the Chris Waller-trained local in late March.