Maltese Cross makes an impression in shedding maiden tag

Maltese Cross looks an exciting prospect for William Haggas next season after getting off the mark in the opening race of the Cambridgeshire meeting at Newmarket.

Narrowly beaten in second on his Ascot debut just under three weeks ago, the Sea The Stars colt was a 13-8 shot to open his account at the second time of asking in the Hunters Prestige British EBF Maiden Stakes, with twice-placed Del Maro the 5-6 favourite for Charlie Appleby.

The market principals came to the fore in the closing stages of the one-mile contest and while Del Maro hit the front racing up the hill, Maltese Cross found more late on to wrestle back the lead and claim top honours by a head in the hands of Tom Marquand.

Haggas said: “He’s a nice horse and I liked the way he stayed on up the hill.

“He wants a mile and a half, but I’m never keen to run them over too far at two. I don’t know whether he’ll run again this year, I don’t think he needs to. He’ll learn a lot from that and we might just aim him at a race in the spring and then see where we are.

“Tom was quite complimentary. Quite the value of the form, I don’t know, but we think he’s a nice prospect and he’s got a lot of furnishing and maturing to do. If he does furnish and mature, which he might, there’s lots of stamina in the pedigree and he’s got a good brain, so who knows?

“It was a nice performance. Time will tell whether it was a good race or not, but as far as the horse is concerned that was perfect for me.”