St Simon target for Irish Leger runner-up Hamish

Lilac Road bound for Champions Day following narrow Vermeille defeat.

William Haggas came within less than a length of a Group One double on Sunday, but ultimately both Hamish and Lilac Road had to settle for second best.

Hamish gave star stayer Kyprios a real run for his money the Irish St Leger at the Curragh, travelling strongly before being outstayed by the odds-on favourite close home.

Lilac Road, meanwhile, failed by just a head to reel in Sweet Lady in the Prix Vermeille and will have one more chance of gaining a so far elusive top-level success before she heads into retirement.

“They both ran extremely well,” said Haggas.

“Hamish didn’t stay in the Ascot race (Long Distance Cup) last year so I couldn’t see why he would this year, which was why we didn’t put him in to eradicate that from our minds.

“I think the Cumberland Lodge will come around too quickly for him so there isn’t much now.

“There’s a race at ParisLongchamp for him the day after Champions Day over a mile and three (Prix Du Conseil De Paris), but that might be a bit short so I would think he’ll end up in the St Simon Stakes (at Newbury).

“The trouble is he had a hard race on Sunday and he needs a bit of a gap between his races, he can’t take too many quick races, although he loves this ground.

“Last year he ran on Champions Day and then we ran him back at Kempton, where he had won before, a couple of weeks later but he ran poorly so we just have to give him a bit more time – so I think it will be the St Simon.”

Lilac Road winning at York
Lilac Road winning at York (Tim Goode/PA)

Lilac Road, who won the Middleton Stakes back in May, ran with great credit in the Nassau Stakes and Yorkshire Oaks and will now head to Qipco Champions Day at Ascot.

“She was third in the Nassau and now second in the Vermeille, so she’s nearly there,” said Haggas.

“She’s got one more run, she’ll retire at the end of the season, so rightly or wrongly she’ll run on Champions Day (Qipco British Champions Fillies And Mares Stakes).

“We’ve got Sea La Rosa for the Prix de Royallieu, so she won’t go for that.”

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