Haggas eager for Addeybb to take Eclipse chance

Keith Hamer
June 30, 2021 12:38 pm

Trainer keen to run even if ground is not ideal.

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.

Anything @HollieDoyle1 can do… @TomMarquand and Addeybb win the QIPCO Champion Stakes! @Ascot pic.twitter.com/8itzyq5FrZ
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 17, 2020

“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.

“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.”