Royal Ascot: Haatem takes spotlight with Jersey success

enjoyed a deserved day in the sun after clinging on grimly to claim a thrilling renewal of the Jersey Stakes at .

Winner of the Craven Stakes in April, Richard Hannon’s three-year-old returned to to finish third in the 2000 Guineas before finding only his esteemed stablemate too strong in the Irish equivalent at the three weeks later.

With Rosallion having given the form a major boost by landing the St James’s Palace Stakes on Tuesday, Haatem was given his opportunity to shine on the final day of the Royal meeting, carrying the colours of Wathnan Racing for the first time in the hands of James Doyle.

With 13-8 favourite finding disappointingly little when push came to shove, Haatem (7-2) moved nicely to the front and looked set to win handsomely after taking a couple of lengths out of the field.

However, the Harry Charlton-trained – half-brother to the mighty Frankel by top sire Kingman – really found his feet late on and the pair passed the post almost as one.

Following a brief wait, the judge confirmed Haatem had held on by a short head, with the Johnny Murtagh-trained (80-1) in third.

Hannon said: “I have never known a horse get such a following from the general public with emails, Instagram messages. Haatem is a pleasure to have around and I would love to think we will have an association for a few years to come. He deserved his day in the sun and hopefully there will be many more.

"He carried a 3lb penalty today. He got to the front very easy and I'm just delighted for the horse. It's a Group Three but I think this Jersey was an awful lot more than it normally is. He has credit for a lot more than that and I'm sure a Group One is coming very soon.

"There are some very good races for him in Australia, America, France but we'll take him home first. I just don't think there is any need for him to take on Rosallion. It's not a race I would enjoy watching, it seems a little unfair.

"Haatem is a horse that deserves everything he gets. He cost just £27,000, and that says a lot about our sport, a lot of it good. He's here taking part with a penalty at the top level. It shows it's possible, which you can't say about many sports."

Doyle said: “I had no idea if we'd won, I had my head down. Oisin [Murphy, on Kikkuli] asked me if I'd got back up, so that kind of showed me that he had an idea.

"He’s an absolute warrior. It wasn't his ideal set-up today, but we've come up with a plan and it worked. If he had got beat, he would have been robbed because he responded well. Oisin quite smartly challenged away from me and he did spot him late on and he responded well. What a horse.

"Jamie Spencer said to me that he quickened really smartly in Ireland, so I wasn't surprised by the way he picked up. We were trying to put a square peg in a round hole today but, because he's such a versatile horse, it worked.”

On the week in general, Doyle said: “There is a select few lads in the week that are happy and there are a lot of unhappy lads in the weighing room. There have been some great stories. There was plenty of pressure coming into this week to perform. It's no secret about the money that's been invested by Wathnan, so it's great that we've got some results on the board through the week.”

Harry Charlton said of Kikkuli: “We are delighted with him. Oisin said it was a bit of a head up, head down. He rode him to follow Haatem and Doyler [James Doyle] on a miler who started stretching two down, and Oisin said he’s run great. It is a shame to be second twice, but we won’t take anything away from the horse. He has run great against a hardened Group One horse who’s had a lot more experience than him.

“Barry [Mahon of Juddmonte] texted me this morning and said, ‘He’s 25/1’, and I said, ‘Well, Karl Burke’s horse that was 5/1 for the Guineas is bigger than us – it’s a proper race and there are a lot of 110-plus horses’, and he’s run outstandingly, really.

“Oisin said seven or eight furlongs. I think actually what looked key there was having pace. He travelled probably the best of them; he enjoyed the pace and the quick ground. I watched them down at the start and he was probably the one horse not sweating. He’s from an exuberant family, and by Kingman, but this lad is absolutely bombproof.”

Chicago Critic’s trainer said: “We are absolutely delighted, that was fantastic. We came over because we thought we had a nice horse on our hands but, when you look at the strength of the race, it was a very good race. Ben gave him a great ride. We got excited up there for a couple of seconds – we thought he was coming, but he just couldn’t get there. No fault of the horse, he ran brilliantly. Today was the plan, and now we know we have a horse of this level, we will think about what’s next. He’ll stay at seven or a mile – I think he’ll get a mile no problem.”