Abdullah's swoop for Listed winner Classical Times could be deal of the year

What was surely one of the smartest bloodstock transactions of 2018 was played out behind the scenes in October when four-year-old filly Classical Times quietly had a change of colours before her swansong outing at Newmarket.

The daughter of Lawman, then trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam, carried the pink and green silks of Khalid Abdullah for the first and only time in public when just denied by Perfection in the Listed Boadicea Stakes on October 14.

Previously owned by her breeder Allan Belshaw, Classical Times – who won a Listed race at Haydock over six furlongs in May – became a very valuable commodity just three weeks later when her two-year-old half-sister Newspaperofrecord ran away with the Juvenile Turf at the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs.