Dee Stakes quotes: "he will love it around there"
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Thu 7 May 2026
William Haggas feels Morshdi has plenty on his plate in the Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes at Chester.
Having rounded off his juvenile year with victory at York, Morshdi made a successful reappearance in Newmarket’s Feilden Stakes last month, after which his trainer said “all year I have been saying Chester – he will love it round there”.
Now the Dubawi colt gets the opportunity to prove Haggas right, but the Newmarket handler is wary of the threat posed by Aidan O’Brien’s Futurity Stakes winner from last season, Constitution River.
Haggas said: “I think Chester will suit him and he’s got a nice draw (stall one), but the obvious one is Aidan’s, who is a Group Two winner with no penalty and we’ve only won a Listed race and we have a penalty.
“That is going to make it tough, but he needs to run and that is where we want to run him, so off we go.”
While Morshdi is entered in the Betfred Derby at Epsom, Haggas concedes there might be a stamina question about the premier Classic.
He added: “I’m not sure about a mile and a half.
“Although the full-sister (Nakheel) won the Park Hill over a mile and six, I’m not convinced he’s an out-and-out stayer – he’s got a bit of speed, so we’ll see.”
O’Brien has trained 12 winners of the extended 10-furlong Listed contest, including each of the last four and seven of the last eight.
This year the Ballydoyle handler is represented by both Flushing Meadows and hot favourite Constitution River, and said of the latter: “We think he is a very good horse. He hasn’t run this year and we view him as probably a French Derby horse.
“Obviously they can’t all go to Epsom, so he could go to the Dee Stakes and then have the option of going to Epsom or France. We always thought a lot of him.”
Karl Burke runs both Golden Story and Shayem, with Generic from Andrew Balding’s yard completing the line-up.
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