It may be running on its original date but the Coronation Cup has a different location as well as a new sponsor for this year.
Traditionally run at Epsom, the Group 1 contest returns to Newmarket for the first time since World War II and in this disrupted season the race sponsorship had become available, allowing young bloodstock agent Sam Haggas to step in to support the race under his Hurworth Bloodstock banner.
The son of William and Maureen Haggas and grandson of Lester Piggott, Haggas clearly has a good grounding in the business and he set up his own agency just over a year ago, having worked with John Ferguson and Mark McStay at Godolphin and then Avenue Bloodstock.
A one-man band at present, Haggas, a keen form student, is focusing predominantly on the horses-in-training market. He says, “I've always been interested in the form side of things ever since I've been interested in racing, and that led me to a job with Paddy Power on the racing team in Dublin. So that is the main focus but I'm still very much planning to cover all aspects of Flat racing on the bloodstock side.”
Like many people, he has had a quieter spell during lockdown, though he did manage to pick up a bit of business following the opening turf meeting of the season in Ireland on March.
“I was lucky to be able buy a filly who ran at Naas. Camichita (Ire) was with Johnny Murtagh and has gone on to race in America, so that was a great boost for the business and it at least kept me a little bit busy during what has otherwise been a pretty quiet time,” he says.
His first purchase in the name of Hurworth Bloodstock last year was Miss O Connor (Ire) (Roderic O'Connor {Ire}), who was bought after winning a maiden for John Feane at Gowran Park. She remains unbeaten in three starts for William Haggas, including the listed Dick Hern S. and the G3 Prix Perth.
“She does prefer a bit of cut in the ground and if we get some rain this month she could perhaps go for the Duke of Cambridge at Royal Ascot,” says Haggas, who bought the 5-year-old for Roy and Gretchen Jackson of Lael Stable. “That could be her first target this season but it's ground dependent. The other flagship horse has been Urban Fox (GB), who was a 425,000gns purchase by Barnane Stud from the 2017 December Sale. She had plenty of black type but no stakes-winning form to her name but she went on to win the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes.”
He adds, “I'm lucky to have bought some horses for Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who have been very supportive and I'm hoping to make it an international business. I'm also been buying horses with George Boughey, who just started training last year and was really going well this year before racing stopped. We bought a few horses together at the horses-in-training sale and yearling sales so hopefully they can do well for George this season.”
Haggas, who has been based in Hungerford, near Lambourn, for the last couple of years, is looking forward to his association with the Coronation Cup—a race won by his grandfather on ten occasions—even if he cannot be in his former home town to attend the races.
He says, “It's fantastic to see racing return and, this being the first Group 1, it's an honour to have a small part in it and to have been given the opportunity to sponsor the Coronation Cup. It looks like it's going to be a fantastic race, with five Group 1 winners out of the seven runners, and Stradivarius (Ire) has been an absolute superstar in the last few years. The prospect of Ghaiyyath (Ire) serving it up to Stradivarius: it will be so interesting to see race how the race unfolds.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
