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Haggas Has Royal Ascot Aim For The King And Queen’s Desert Hero

William Haggas is charting a path back towards Royal Ascot with Desert Hero (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and nominated the Hardwicke S. as the main objective for the King and Queen's colt before a possible tilt at races in Australia in the autumn.

Winner of the King George V S. last term, Desert Hero went on to claim Group 3 honours in the Gordon S. at Goodwood before finishing third to Continuous (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {JPN}) in the St Leger.

Haggas had suggested that an Australian campaign could be on the cards for Desert Crown after the St Leger, however, it would appear that those plans have been put on the back burner for the time being at least.

Speaking to RadioTAB Australia, Haggas said, “We decided definitely that His Majesty's horse will not be coming to Sydney in the autumn. We may well come down at the backend of the year in your (Australian) spring, but I just felt he needed a bit more time and they (his owners) concurred.”

When asked if the Melbourne Cup would be a likely destination, Haggas replied, “Possibly or possibly something in Sydney, we'll see. We are going to concentrate on going to Royal Ascot for the Hardwicke Stakes, which will be his first major target.

“He's done very well this winter. He will benefit from all the time he can get. It's 'do we press the button now or wait a bit' and we plumped for the second option, we're going to wait a bit.

“He's pretty useful, he got better and better last year and we think he's done better again this winter, so I am very pleased with him.”

Haggas will be represented in the big Australian races once again by Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}), who won both the Ranvet S. and the Queen Elizabeth S. last year before finishing a fine third to Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the QEII Cup in Hong Kong.

“He'll go into quarantine on February 15. We're looking at the same two races as last year,” he commented. “I probably shouldn't have run him in the Eclipse, as he'd been on the go for a while, but there were only four runners and I thought he ran well for a long way in the Champion Stakes.

“To be honest, his whole summer was based around getting him in top shape to come to you (Australia) in February/March. He will be the same horse he was, I hope.

“I'd like him to come back for two years. If all goes well this year and he runs competitively, then basically it will be all the same again.”

Two more could travel with Dubai Honour, as Post Impressionist (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), winner of the Old Borough Cup, and Mujtaba (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), last seen finishing second in the Huxley S. in May, are both pencilled in.

“Post Impressionist will run in the Sydney Cup, he's been bought by Lloyd Williams. He's in really good shape,” said Haggas.

“Mujtaba might well go. I'm really pleased with his condition. He'll either go Ranvet or Tancred and then hopefully Queen Elizabeth.

“He's never won a Stakes race, in his only start last year he was second in a Group Two and then got colic. He's a good age, he's six but has only run nine times in his life.”

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Yulong’s Alcohol Free Booked To Frankel

Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never–Plying, by Hard Spun), a four-time Group 1-winning 6-year-old, will be covered by Frankel (GB) and is already back in the Northern Hemisphere, owner Yulong Investments confirmed to the TDN on Wednesday.

Bred by Churchtown House Stud, she sold for €40,000 as a Goffs November foal and was originally raced by Jeff Smith of Littleton Stud and trainer Andrew Balding. Successful in the G1 Cheveley Park S. as a juvenile, both the G1 Coronation S. and G1 Sussex S. went her way in 2021.

Kept in training at four, she added the G1 July Cup S. to her resume before bringing 5.4 million gns to top the 2022 Tattersalls December Mares Sale when picked up by Yuesheng Zhang's Yulong. After an Australian campaign with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, she has returned to Europe for broodmare duty. Her record stands at 20-6-1-3 and $2,546,735 in earnings.

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Milton Harris Has Training Licence Withdrawn

Milton Harris has been ruled not to be a “fit and proper person” to hold a trainer's licence in written reasons issued by the British Horseracing Authority's Licensing Committee.

The Warminster handler was found to be in multiple breaches of his licence conditions, with the BHA citing his “misconduct in his dealings with others, including fellow licence holder Mr Simon Earle” and “concerns in respect of safeguarding arising out of MH's conduct with young persons employed at his racing yard”.

Harris, who had an enforced absence from the training ranks between 2011 and 2018 due to financial issues, also admitted to being in breach of conditions which were imposed on his licence upon his return. Harris reportedly failed “to be candid in his dealings with the BHA in respect of those breaches, particularly when the BHA was seeking to provide opportunities for MH to remedy those breaches”.

In the wake of the ruling, BHA director of integrity and regulatory operations, Tim Naylor said, “Racing is a sport that works hard to provide a safe and welcoming space for all and the ruling of the Licensing Committee in this case sends a clear message that those in positions of authority in our industry must act in a way that upholds these values.

“We are grateful to the committee for their time in considering this matter and also to those who came forward to share their experiences of Mr Harris and gave evidence at the hearing.

“Some of the details in the Licensing Committee's decision make for extremely uncomfortable reading. Mr Harris's behaviour over a prolonged period of time fell a long way short of what we expect of a licensed person and, as the committee found, would cause damage to racing's reputation if allowed to continue without repercussion.

“We are, therefore, pleased with the panel's finding that Mr Harris is not a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

“As is clear from the decision, the BHA's concerns ranged across a number of very serious issues. One of these concerns related to safeguarding. The BHA takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously and, as demonstrated by its bringing this case before the Licensing Committee, will do everything within its powers to ensure that those working in our sport do so in an environment befitting what should rightly be expected by them and, in the case of young people, their parents or guardians upon taking a job in the sport.

“The BHA recently published an updated Safeguarding and Human Welfare Strategy, which built on our existing policies and seeks to protect and promote the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved in the sport.

“As always, we would encourage anybody who feels they have been subjected to or witnessed inappropriate behaviour in our sport to contact us. The BHA's Code of Conduct clearly establishes the standards that everyone involved in racing is expected to uphold and we will never turn a blind eye to concerns raised about conduct which may fall below these standards.”

Harris described himself as “disappointed” by the verdict, with a further response planned in the coming days.

“I've just seen the decision of the committee and I'm obviously disappointed,” said Harris. “My immediate priority is to look after the horses, owners and long-serving staff here and in the immediate that will be my sole focus. I will make a statement [on the decision] in a few days' time.”

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Guineas The Aim For Bucanero Fuerte

High-class juvenile Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) is likely to begin his three-year-old campaign with a run in the G1 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday, May 4 according to trainer Adrian Murray.

Bucanero Fuerte won three of his five starts as a two-year-old in the familiar colours of Amo Racing, producing his best effort when easily winning the G1 Phoenix S. at the Curragh by four lengths from the subsequent G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio). On the sidelines since finishing well held in the G1 National S. in September, Bucanero Fuerte also has the option of waiting for the G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas back at the Curragh on Saturday, May 25, but Murray is leaning towards a Newmarket return to action with a colt who he reports to have done well for his winter break.

“He's great, he's been back cantering for two months now and I'm very happy with him,” said Murray. “He's got big and strong over the winter and I couldn't be happier with him. He's turned into a fine horse.

“We're aiming to go to the 2,000 Guineas with him. We probably wouldn't go for a prep run and he'll be entered in both, but my preference would be the English I think.”

Closer to hand, Murray is also planning an ambitious tilt at the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan on Saturday, March 30. The horse in question is the four-year-old Elegant Man, who remains relatively unexposed after just three starts and was impressive when winning a Conditions race at Dundalk most recently.

Though unproven on the dirt, Elegant Man has a pedigree which suggests he should come into his own on that surface and Murray is optimistic that we haven't seen the best of a colt who would be trying to emulate his sire, the 2017 Dubai World Cup winner Arrogate.

“It was a lovely run and he's come out of the race well,” Murray said of the Dundalk performance. “He's nominated now to go to Dubai for the Dubai World Cup. He might not get in but that's the plan at the minute.

“He's still quite green. He's learning and there's more to come from him once he gets a little bit more experience.”

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