Addeybb (right) chased home Magical in the 2019 Qipco Champion Stakes© Photo Healy Racing
William Haggas is looking forward to another attempt at the Qipco Champion Stakes with last year’s runner-up Addeybb.
The six-year-old landed two Grade Ones in Australia in the spring and, on his return, finished second to Lord North in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
After a 94-day break, Haggas sent him to Ayr for a Listed race in which he gave 7lb and a three-quarter length beating to a previous Queen Anne winner in Lord Glitters.
“I was really happy, because I thought it was quite a tough race,” said Haggas.
“Usually if you run a Group One horse in a Listed race you frighten everything away — but maybe because there’d been no decent ground, it persuaded people to run.
“They didn’t go very fast, and he looked in trouble — to my eye anyway — two out, but he picked up real good.
“That will have done him a lot of good, and he’ll go off to Ascot with a chance. It will be tough — but it’s the Champion Stakes, (so) it should be. He’s entitled to go, and he’ll be a sporting bet.”
Haggas believes the application of cheek-pieces has helped to bring out the very best in Addeybb.
He added: “His record since we put cheek-pieces on — which aren’t because he’s ungenuine, but they just help him — is outstanding (never out of first two in eight runs).
“He’s not a flash horse, which is why he might be (a bigger price). He is what he is — that is what everyone thinks, they all look for the younger ones, the Mishriffs of this world.
“Mishriff is a very good horse, but he’ll need to be on his A game.
“Then there’s Magical (last year’s winner), but I’m hoping she might run in the Arc first. Given they’ve [owners Coolmore] got Love and Mogul, though, she might not, I suppose."
