Moore content to bide time until Leger with El Habeeb

Simon Milham
June 12, 2022 2:38 pm

Unheralded colt was far from disgraced in the Derby.

Stan Moore will give El Habeeb plenty of time before bringing him to the boil for a crack at the St Leger following his eyecatching run in the Cazoo Derby.

El Habeeb was pitched into the colts’ Classic after finishing fifth of six on debut in a Listed 10-furlong Newmarket event last month.

Yet he outran his 250-1 odds under John Egan at Epsom, staying on nicely from the back of the field to take 10th place, silencing critics who felt he did not deserve a place in the line-up.

WHAT. A. PERFORMANCE.
DESERT CROWN provides Sir Michael Stoute with his sixth @CazooUK Derby victory and a first for @RKingscote with a hugely impressive performance in the @EpsomRacecourse showpiece 😍#CazooDerby pic.twitter.com/RaiPMMSnix
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) June 4, 2022

Typically understated, Moore said: “He ran nice. He will have a break now. He is still a big baby and has had two very good runs. He will go for a maiden and then he will be entered in the St Leger – that is his game-plan.

“You’d hope he will go on and do something in the Leger, but I think he proved at Epsom that he is a very nice horse and you would think he would have every chance at Doncaster.”

However, the Mohamed Khalid Abdulrahim-owned son of Al Rifai – a well-bred son of Galileo out of Canadian Grade One winner Lahaleeb – will not be seen again until the autumn, as the Upper Lambourn trainer plots a path that could include a lucrative winter campaign abroad.

“You would think he will naturally improve again for that run,” added Moore. “I think he will probably run three weeks before the Leger.

“He will go to the stud and have a nice break for sure. The sun on his back will do him good and he is a horse who is going to keep improving.

“He will probably do some of the Arab-state races in the winter, so that is why you wouldn’t be worrying too much about what happens here.”

Meanwhile, Moore is looking ahead to a potential outing at Royal Ascot with The Wizard Of Eye.

Moore has not lost faith in the strapping son of Galileo Gold, who could head to the Hampton Court Stakes.

“The Wizard Of Eye is entered in the mile-and-a-quarter race at Ascot on Thursday,” added Moore.

“He was probably slightly unlucky to be out of the frame in the German Guineas. He ran a really good race in the English Guineas. He wasn’t beaten overly-far and there were plenty of good horses within two lengths around him.

“You have to take into account he is nearly 17.2 (hands) and unfortunately you are on a fine line as to whether you get there or not, because whatever you think the horse is now, he is going to be a proper horse next year, because you can train him proper. He is a still a bit weak.

“Whether we go or not is still debatable. We might try to see what there is in August. We are not sure he will run, but he probably will.”