Mission impossible: Haggas laments Autumn challenge for veteran star

Champion English trainer William Haggas believes the connections of Australia’s newest superstar, Autumn Glow, have made the right call by taking her to the $5 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 2000m.

He just wishes they hadn’t.

Haggas has sent Dubai Honour for a third and likely final campaign in Australia, where he has won three times at group 1 level, claiming the Ranvet (2000m) and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in 2023 and the Tancred Stakes (2400m) last year.

Now eight, Dubai Honour will tackle the Tancred and Queen Elizabeth after a one-week delay in his flight forced Haggas to abandon plans for a first-up run in last Saturday’s Ranvet. Dubai Honour came out of quarantine with stablemate Caviar Heights at Canterbury Park on Tuesday.

While Haggas, at home in Newmarket preparing for this weekend’s start to the flat racing season, has been pleased with reports about Dubai Honour’s condition, he was disappointed to hear news on Tuesday that unbeaten Autumn Glow would head to the Queen Elizabeth, rather than the Doncaster.

In a double blow for Dubai Honour, the decision means Chris Waller-trained stablemate Aeliana is likely to back up from her Ranvet win and chase another group 1 in the Tancred, given her chances in the Queen Elizabeth drop with the presence of Autumn Glow.

“I watch the racing in Australia every day, and she’s outstanding,” Haggas said of Autumn Glow, which took her perfect record to 11 with a domination of the group 1 George Ryder Stakes last Saturday.

“I’m sad she’s running in the Queen Elizabeth, but I would have done exactly the same if I’d been them.

“I think she will be virtually impossible to beat if she has a clear run, but racing is an extraordinary game, and turn ups do happen. All horses don’t turn up in the best form every day, so you just hope she has an off day maybe, but we’ve got a big hurdle to jump first this weekend before we start thinking about that.

“The problem with not running in the Ranvet is that we only have a two-week gap between Saturday and the Queen Elizabeth, rather than three. We like to give them longer between runs than the trainers in Australia. Two weeks is minimum after they have had a while off.

“He’s a very versatile horse and he loves the travelling. He takes everything in his stride, his blood is good, he’s eating well and he’s enjoying life at Canterbury.

“We’ve obviously got a strong race on Saturday, stronger than I imagined now that Aeliana is going to back up.”

Dubai Honour had barrier eight of eight for the Tancred and was a $4 second elect with TAB behind Aeliana ($1.65) on Thursday.

The flight to bring four internationals to Sydney for the carnival was delayed because of travel chaos caused by the Middle East conflict.

“If we’d been delayed another four or five days and not been able to come over for the Tancred, I would have pulled the plug on the trip, but we got there and we’re delighted to be there,” Haggas said.

He expected the trip to be Dubai Honour’s last to Australia. The well-travelled veteran has raced in Hong Kong, Germany, France and at home, for three seconds and a win, since his most recent venture Down Under, taking him to 10 wins, 13 placings across 35 starts and $A9.6 million in prizemoney.

“You never say never, but I would imagine [it is],” he said.

“I have it in my mind that he’s done plenty and this will probably be his last trip.”

Owner Mohamed Obaida died shortly after Dubai Honour’s Australian campaign last year and his son has told Haggas “treat him like he’s yours and do whatever you want with him”.

Caviar Heights, a five-year-old which joined Haggas’ stable last October, will run in the group 2 Neville Sellwood Stakes (2000m) on Saturday. His initial plan was to start in last week’s Manion Cup and Haggas hoped to get a guide on Saturday for his second run. English jockey Tom Marquand will ride both for Haggas.

“He was new to us last year and he had a couple of excellent runs then ran very poorly on a heavy track,” he said.

“In your terms, it would have been a heavy 15, so he just couldn’t cope with that.

“He’s a nice horse who’s been training very well and we expect him to run a good race on Saturday.

“I could go to the Chairman’s [Quality on April 4], but that’s a bit of a short back-up. He could go to the Sydney Cup, but in an ideal world, I’d love him to go very well on Saturday and back-up in the Queen Elizabeth.”