Hannon and Rosallion ready for Notable Speech rematch

Plenty of cause for optimism with St James’s Palace looming.

Richard Hannon believes the round mile at Ascot in the St James’s Palace Stakes gives Rosallion a chance of turning the tables on his 2000 Guineas conqueror Notable Speech.

While Rosallion went to the Curragh and won the Irish equivalent, beating stablemate Haatem in a tight finish, he has a length and a half to make up on Charlie Appleby’s runner.

However, Hannon feels he will have come forward again for his second run of the season with Notable Speech no longer holding a fitness edge, as he was having his fourth run within five months at Newmarket.

“I think Ascot will suit us an awful lot more than Newmarket, we were having our first run of the season, he obviously improved for that first run big time in the Irish Guineas and he will have come on again,” Hannon told Unibet.

“Coming round a bend, quickening off a bend, hopefully you will see him be potent. I can’t think there’s many horses around that will match him for a turn of foot.

“Sat swinging off that Ascot bend, waiting to press the button is how I’ve thought of it and hopefully that’s what happens but there’s no doubt Charlie’s horse is a really good horse.

“My eye was drawn to our horse in the Guineas and I just thought he’d win the way he was travelling and I couldn’t believe he got beat, but when you watch the replay on the far side you see Charlie’s horse and he never looked like getting beat which is a huge worry. He’s an extremely good horse.

“I’d love to think we can beat him but he looked pretty good in the Guineas – and I know we have a really good horse, they are two top-class horses. I’d love to think we could beat him.”

As for the future Hannon sees no reason to step him up in trip for now and mooted a possible venture to the Breeders’ Cup.

He said: “I have no temptation to run him over a mile and a quarter – unless Sheikh Obaid does and then it’s a different question – but to me he’s an out-and-out miler.

“I still don’t think soft ground was why he got beat (at Doncaster last year), he should go on it, but bearing that in mind I’m minded to run him now then have a break with the end of the year in mind which may include America, depending on what Sheikh Obaid wants to do. I don’t think you’ll see him in something like a QEII because of that ground factor.”

Haatem won the Craven and has bene placed in two Classics
Haatem won the Craven and has bene placed in two Classics (Bradley Collyer/PA)

Irish Guineas runner-up Haatem is dropping in distance for the Jersey Stakes, when he will sport new colours having been bought by Wathnan Racing.

“Haatem is an extremely good horse, I’ve never seen a horse get so much love for finishing second, he really has a massive fan club now but I think he deserves it,” said Hannon.

“He deserves his day in the sun, of which I hope he’ll have many more. Coming back to seven was an easy decision because there’s not just Rosallion in the St James’s Palace, there’s Notable Speech and a few others, it’ll be red hot.

“Why not take the easier route? Ascot winners, whether Group Ones or not, they are in stature and achievement for your owners and your business, they are so important. I’d love to see him win one.”

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