Coral-Eclipse: William Haggas praying for rain to help Addeybb in Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown
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 on 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.
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“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.
“He’s quite durable, but the ground on both occasions in Australia was not as soft as he’d like.
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“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 and my forecast says there is a chance we’ll get some rain on Friday and Saturday. 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 Basilica’s wouldn’t, so who knows what’s going to happen?”
Haggas reports Al Aasy to have worked very well as he remains on course for a run in the King George next month.
A prep run at Newmarket has been considered but the trainer is leaning towards a direct route to Ascot.
“Whether he goes to the Princess of Wales’s Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket next week, I’m not sure,” Haggas said. “I doubt it. He’ll probably go straight to the King George.
“He worked beautifully again yesterday so he’s on target to go where we want him. We just have to decide whether going to Newmarket might take the edge off him for Ascot, which wouldn’t be sensible.”
Royal Ascot winners Mohaafeth and Alenquer are being readied for their next assignments, heading to York and Paris Longchamp respectively.
On Mohaafeth, Haggas said: “We knocked the Eclipse on the head last weekend and he’s going to go for Sky Bet York Stakes on July 24, which is unfortunate for Jim [Crowley] but fortunate for Dane [O’Neill] as it’s on the same day as the King George.
“Alenquer will go hopefully for the Grand Prix de Paris on July 14 so we’ve got a busy few weeks coming up.”
Also heading to York is Hardwicke Stakes flop Ilaraab, who the trainer says is unlikely to take up an engagement at Saint-Cloud on Sunday.
“Although they got plenty of rain there yesterday, he’s pretty ground dependent,” he added.
“I think he’s going to go to York on July 10 for a Group Three race [Silver Cup Stakes], if the ground is soft.
On Ilaraab’s Hardwicke Stakes effort in eighth, Haggas said: “He didn’t really run at all. I’m pretty convinced that it was going right-handed.
“Most people will think that he wasn’t good enough but I think he didn’t look comfortable. He’ll be unlikely to run right-handed again, unless it was desperately soft.”
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