Al Aasy returns to winning ways in Charlie Wood Stakes

Al Aasy made the most of a softer assignment at Beverley, turning a measured ride from Cieren Fallon into a 1½-length win over By The Book in the Listed Charlie Wood Stakes. The 9-year-old gelding, a multiple Group 3 winner, returned to winning ways over 1m4f23yds on good to firm ground in a race that carried a winner’s prize of £34,026 and drew only five runners.

William Haggas dropped Al Aasy in class after his second in the John Porter Stakes at Newbury on April 18, where he raced last and stayed on strongly to finish half a length behind Convergent. Back against Listed opposition, and without a penalty, he was the 4-9 favourite and looked every inch the horse to beat before the gates even opened.

Fallon kept him tucked away near the rear, close enough to strike but never exposed to the pace pressure that can flatten an older horse in a small field. Al Aasy briefly looked short of room a furlong from home, yet once the gap came he quickened clear inside the final furlong and hit the front entering the last 110 yards.

It was Al Aasy’s 12th career win. Racing TV had him on 29 flat-turf starts going into Beverley, with 11 wins, six seconds and two thirds. His latest Group 3 win had come four starts earlier, in August 2025.

Candleford, another Haggas runner, won the 2025 Charlie Wood Stakes with Fallon in the saddle, and this year the same combination struck again with a different horse.

Al Aasy’s wider résumé included the Bahrain Trophy, John Porter Stakes, Aston Park Stakes, Buckhounds Stakes, Steventon Stakes, Rose of Lancaster Stakes, Geoffrey Freer Stakes and Gordon Richards Stakes, and Shadwell called him an “outstanding performer” and a “fabulous old stager.” Fallon’s verdict after Beverley was blunt: Al Aasy was “a league above his rivals.”