William Haggas with an update on Addeybb, Al Aasy and Mohaafeth

William Haggas with an update on Addeybb, Al Aasy and Mohaafeth

By Racing TV
Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023
Addeybb is set to run in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown on Saturday whatever the ground conditions.
Trainer William Haggas is keen to get the seven-year-old track for the first time since he returned from another successful stint in Australia.
The Newmarket handler took Addeybb out of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot due to the fast ground, but will not be swayed by conditions on this occasion.
“He’s fine and he’s ready to race. We’ve had this in mind since he got back from Australia so we’re pleased to be there,” Haggas told Sky Sports Racing.
“He’s quite durable, but the ground on both occasions in Australia was not as soft as he’d like.
“He ran on good to firm and a soft five which is on the slow side of good, if that. He never got heavy ground and subsequently he had to fight harder, certainly in the second one (Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick), than he did the previous year.
Watch how Addeybb won the Champion Stakes last year
“I don’t know yet whether he’s just losing it a bit or whether it was simply the ground. We know that soft ground is for him and better ground he’s not quite effective on, but he’s still pretty good.
“I’d be pretty loath to take him out because he needs to race. You can’t keep practising on the (Newmarket) Heath and in the nets and not get out in the middle. He needs a run.
“My forecast says there’s a chance of rain on Friday and on Saturday, Maureen’s (wife) forecaster says the opposite so who knows, but what will be will be.”
Haggas believes this year’s Eclipse is living up to its billing as the first big showdown between the three-year-olds and older horses.
“This is what this race is all about. It’s the clash of the generations,” he said.
“Here you’ve got a really top-class speedier three-year-old (St Mark’s Basilica) who’s won two Classics and won the Dewhurst last year, so he’s obviously a very good horse.
“You’ve got Mishriff, who won a French Derby and really excelled in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, and then our fella who keeps battling away and bashing away. He’s as reliable a yardstick as you can get.
“If the ground came up soft, heavy in places, our chance would increase and maybe St Mark’s Basilicia’s wouldn’t, so who knows what’s going to happen.”
The Sky Bet York Stakes is next on the agenda for Royal Ascot hero Mohaafeth.
The son of Frankel emerged as a leading contender for the Derby after winning his first three starts of the season, but was taken out of the premier Classic at Epsom on the day of the race due to unsuitable ground.
William Haggas instead sent his exciting colt to the Royal meeting where he ran out an impressive winner of the Hampton Court Stakes – and he is now set to step up to Group Two level on the Knavesmire.
With jockey Jim Crowley likely to be at Ascot to ride stablemate Al Aasy in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes on the same afternoon, Dane O’Neill is poised to take over in the saddle aboard Mohaafeth at York.
Haggas said: “We knocked the Eclipse on the head last weekend and he’s going to go for the Sky Bet race at York on July 24, which is unfortunate for Jim, but good for Dane, because that’s the same day as the King George.
“The horse that won the King Edward (Alenquer) is hopefully going for the Grand Prix de Paris on July 14, so we’ve got a busy few weeks coming up.”
Al Aasy has the option of warming up for the King George in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket next week, but appears unlikely to take up the engagement.
“The King George is very much the plan. Whether he goes for the Princess of Wales’s Stakes, I’m not sure – I doubt it. He’ll probably go straight for the King George,” Haggas added.
“He worked beautifully again yesterday and is on target to go where we want him. We just have to decide whether going to Newmarket might take the edge off him for Ascot, which wouldn’t be sensible.
“My gut feeling is he’ll probably go straight to Ascot.”
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