Haggas Makes Headway With Strong Start To Season

[Wandering Eyes]

With a record number of winners in 2017 and one of the best strike-rates around, William Haggas again has his team in fine order heading into one of the most significant periods of the Flat season, having engineered a seamless transition from the all-weather to the turf.

His three runners at Lingfield’s all-weather championships on Good Friday returned with two red rosettes and a blue, with Victory Bond (GB) (Medicean {GB}) giving the famous Bloomsbury Stud colours a successful airing for the Duke of Bedford in the Easter Classic, Diagnostic (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) landing the Fillies’ and Mares’ Championship for long-term Haggas patron Cheveley Park Stud and Second Thought (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) finishing runner-up in the Mile division for Liam Sheridan following his victory in the listed Lady Wulfruna S. three weeks earlier.

“We had the right horses. We had a good winter team and the all-weather final races fitted the team very well,” says Haggas. “Obviously when I started training we finished at Doncaster in the November Handicap and started again with the Lincoln. I can’t even remember what we used to do in between. It’s now much better, there’s quite a good programme in the winter, which is rewarding, and if you’re good enough you can go to Dubai.”

By the time of the final all-weather flourish, however, Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) had already signalled the stable’s turf intent with a resounding triumph in the first major handicap of the year, the Lincoln, the manner of his win so much more imperious than the official 2¾-length verdict. The 4-year-old further embellished his claims to be slugging it out at the top level when posting the same margin of victory over some classy rivals in his first foray into Pattern company in the G2 Bet365 Mile at Sandown on Friday.

“Addeybb was awful at two, got better at three, he’s a big, scopey horse and he looks like he’s going to be better at four,” Haggas says with a measure of understatement. “I thought he put up an impressive performance in the Lincoln. We always like to have one in the Lincoln because we like to get going early and to have a focus. It gives the yard a bit of a buzz.”

His Somerville Lodge in Newmarket will certainly be buzzing this week. Not only does it have the prospect of seeing Addeybb challenge for some of the top-class mile contests this summer, with the Al Shaqab Lockinge S. and the Prix d’Ispahan in the immediate reckoning, but it will be represented in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas by the smart Havana Gold (GB) colt Headway (GB), who won the listed Spring Cup on his seasonal debut.

His trainer says, “Headway is a useful horse—I don’t know if he’s up to winning a Guineas but he’s in great form and it’s a very open race this year. He did really well at Lingfeld and showed a smart turn of foot, and if we can not use all our speed to lay up then he’s got a chance if he can finish off. He’s bred to get the trip.”

An early winner for his young sire at Chester last May, Headway was just touched off in the G2 Coventry S. by Rajasinghe (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}), a result that doubtless sparked a mixure of delight and anguish for his owners in the Royal Ascot Racing Club.

Haggas continues, “I campaigned him last year over six furlongs because he showed so much speed. Through the winter we’ve spent all the time trying to settle him, trying to get him in behind and to breathe properly and not trying to get it over in a rush. We’re taking all that training we did with him as a 2-year-old out of his system. At Lingfield, I asked James [Doyle] just to get him settled and he settled too well. He has a really good mind and I hope he’s going to be just as good at a mile. When you’re stepping horses up in trip it’s not whether they stay the trip it’s whether they’re better. Is he going to be better at a mile than he is at six or seven? He needs to be to be good enough for the Guineas but his style now suggests that’s he’s going to settle and get it.  If the ground stays good he has the option of the Jersey Stakes or the St James’s Palace but our goal at the moment is the Guineas.”

Haggas is yet to win a Guineas but he is among an elite band of trainers to have saddled both a Derby and an Oaks winner, Dancing Rain’s 2011 victory in the fillies’ Classic having followed Shaamit’s Derby win of 1996.

An hour after Addeybb struck on Friday, 3-year-old filly Give And Take (GB) (Cityscape {GB}) finished second to Crystal Hope (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in a smart fillies’ contest while carrying a 6lb penalty for her win last season. Out of a sister to Irish Derby winner Fame And Glory (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) and from the immediate family of Legatissimo (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), Nicholas Jones’s homebred has every right to be considered for Epsom herself.

“Dancing Rain got beaten in her trial before she won the Oaks and Shaamit had only won a median auction maiden before he won the Derby so you don’t want to give up too much hope if you get beaten in a trial,” says Haggas.

“Give And Take has shown so much speed at home that I keep saying to Nicholas ‘are you sure she’s going to get a mile and a half?’ She’s not very big but she’s very genuine and I think she’s pretty smart. She’ll go for a black-type race now, either at Newbury or to York for the Musidora and then she could go for the Oaks if we feel she’s a credible stayer. James [Doyle] said she got a bit tired at Sandown and the ground was pretty holding by the time of her race.”

Three of her stablemates hold Derby entries and under particular consideration for Epsom is recent Newbury maiden winner Young Rascal (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), owned by Bernard Kantor, managing director of the Derby meeting sponsor Investec.

“Young Rascal is still quite immature but he’s a nice horse,” Haggas says. “He was bred by Elisabeth Fabre and every time I see Andre all he askes me is ‘how is my wife’s horse?’ Bernard Kantor goes to the sales every year to try to buy something to win the Derby and I could think of nothing more satisfying than to have something with a chance in ‘his’ Derby. He needs to go for a trial and I think he’ll go for the Chester Vase, which is the only Derby trial run over a mile and a half or more. I think he enjoys a bit of cut in the ground and I think he’ll learn more round Chester.”

Of the older brigade, Haggas has some interesting representatives at both ends of the distance spectrum. Come Royal Ascot, we may well see two Shadwell sprinters in the reckoning, with Muthmir (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), a rare veteran to be competing for Sheikh Hamdan, and Tasleet (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) both still in training.

“Muthmir’s getting old but he’s such a marvellous horse,” says the trainer. “He had a long break last winter and then came back and won a Group 2 but he was hindered by the weather. Every time he was due to run it rained and he has to have it really firm. He’s going to run on French Guineas day in the [G3] Prix Saint Georges and he will go back for the [G2] Gros-Chene which he won last year, and then the King’s Stand. I still think he has a few miles left in him. For an 8-year-old he’s quite lightly raced.”

Tasleet, who had three runner-up finishes in the G1 Golden Jubilee S., G1 Haydock Sprint Cup and G1 British Champions Sprint last season, heads back to Ascot seeking revenge. “Tasleet has to win his Group 1. He doesn’t like Newmarket and we went a bit off track last year after the July Cup but I won’t enter him this year. He’ll go for the Golden Jubilee then to France for the Prix Maurice de Gheest, then the Sprint Cup and Champions Day.”

Aiming to emulate the memorable Gold Cup win of Estimate (GB) (Monsun {Ger}) for Her Majesty the Queen will be Call To Mind (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), who will head to one of the qualifiers for the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million, the G2 Henry II S., before Royal Ascot.

“Call To Mind has bounced out of his race at Newbury [the G3 John Porter]. I was disappointed he didn’t run on to be second but I think a mile and a half is patently too short for him now. He’s a really good stayer and we’d always planned to go Newbury, Henry II and then the Gold Cup. He’s going to have a good year,” says Haggas of the royal homebred, a full-brother to young Haras de Montfort & Préaux stallion Recorder (GB) whom he trained to win the G3 Acomb S.

The trainer has a longer-range target in mind for another stayer in his care, the dual listed winner Dal Harraild (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), who disappointed in the G2 Dubai Gold Cup recently.

“Dal Harraild is the most fantastic mover. I don’t know what went wrong in Dubai. Ryan [Moore] said he was gone four furlongs from home and he’s a thoroughly genuine horse. I don’t know whether the heat got to him,” he ponders. “He’s in great form and will start in the Yorkshire Cup probably. I’ve always wanted to go to Australia with him. He’s a really sound horse and is a good, strong stayer but he’s got a bit of speed. It’s all about Melbourne for him this year.”

From a burgeoning juvenile team being augmented still by the breeze-up sales, it’s almost impossible to judge potential stars at such a formative stage in their careers. Haggas struck with his first juvenile winner, Carrie’s Vision (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), at Yarmouth on Tuesday, and on paper at least he has some enticing prospects, including Frankellina (GB) (Frankel {GB}) for Anthony Oppenheimer, a filly out of former Somerville Lodge trainee and listed winner Our Obsession (Ire) (Shamardal).

He says, “It’s getting your hands on the kit, which makes me sound like a spoilt child because I’m very fortunate, but you always want a bit more. I’d like them all to be Galileos, Dubawis and Sea The Stars. We have a colt by Dubawi (Ire) out of Danedream (Ger) called Faylaq (GB) for Sheikh Hamdan which is the most expensive yearling we’ve ever been sent. I also still very much like being around the less expensive horses. Having a horse like Tasleet at £50,000 gives me great pleasure.”

In 31 years as a trainer, always working very much in tandem with his wife Maureen, Haggas has never moved from the yard at which he also lives. He rents Hurworth House next door and a few years ago bought nearby Flint Cottage Stables from Mark Tompkins. His business has remained on an upward curve to the point that, in the era of super-yards, he can be regarded as one of Newmarket’s biggest and most successful trainers at a time when the number of racehorses in the town is at a record high of just over 3,000.

“I think racing’s future is quite rosie but nobody else seems to,” he says. “It’s good for Newmarket that we have lots of horses here. I’ve never trained anywhere else so it’s difficult for me to judge but we have great facilities and there’s great camaraderie, too. Everyone who lives outside Newmarket likes to paint a picture of us all at each other’s throats or in bed with each other’s wives but actually it’s nothing like that. There’s always somebody going worse than you and there’s always somebody going better, and it’s a great leveller because you are a day off a disaster. Horses go wrong or get sick and then you have no friends, so if you become too aloof with success it’s bound to come back to bite you.”

From his current spot atop the British trainers’ table, Haggas doesn’t have to peer too far behind him to find his former protégé Archie Watson snapping at his heels. He says, “We have lots of young trainers coming though and it’s much harder for them to start now than when I did. Archie really has had a cracking start. I can’t remember anyone other than perhaps Richard Hannon Jr or Roger Varian starting so well, but that was different as neither of them has ever trained less than 150 horses and Archie started from nothing. We have Harry Eustace now, who will take over from his father [James] one day. It’s a hard job assisting here but I hope it’s rewarding. Harry has a great work ethic, as did Archie. That’s the only way you’ll succeed in any walk of life.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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