Royal Ascot winner Haatem (Ire) (Phoenix Of Spain {Ire}) has suffered an unspecified setback which will rule him out for the remainder of the season. His owner Wathnan Racing plans to return him to training for a four-year-old campaign.
The winner of the G3 Jersey Stakes and G3 Craven Stakes, Haatem has also been placed in two Guineas for Richard Hannon, and was beaten just a head by his stable-mate Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. He was an intended starter in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois in Deauville in August but was withdrawn at the start after jockey James Doyle reported that he was unhappy with the colt as he went to post.
Richard Brown, racing adviser to Wathnan Racing, said, “We've got to the bottom of what was troubling him that day and, the good news is, it's nothing serious. But it would be a race against time to get him back for the obvious end-of-year targets, so we've drawn stumps and hope to have him back in top form for the big mile races next season.”
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