Desert Hero set for Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot rather than Australia trip confirms William Haggas

Royal runner Desert Hero has the Royal Ascot aim of the Hardwicke Stakes after trainer William Haggas ruled out Australian challenge for now; he will, however, be represented by Dubai Honour down under and potentially Post Impressionist and Mujtaba

Thursday 1 February 2024 16:17, UK

William Haggas has decided to keep the King and Queen's Desert Hero closer to home for his first outing of 2024, with Royal Ascot once again on the agenda before a potential trip to Australia at the end of the year.

The chestnut sparked fabulous scenes last June, providing his owners with their first winner at the big meeting in the King George V Stakes.

He went on to win at Glorious Goodwood and finish third in the St Leger, after which Haggas was contemplating a Melbourne Cup tilt.

That was put on the backburner but the Newmarket handler was considering sending him out to Australia in the early months of the new year, given the success he has had with the likes of Addeybb and Dubai Honour down under.

However, those plans have now been shelved and Haggas told RadioTAB Australia: "We decided definitely that His Majesty's horse will not be coming to Sydney in the autumn.

"We may well come down at the backend of the year in your [Australian] spring, but I just felt he needed a bit more time and they [his owners] concurred.

"Possibly [the Melbourne Cup] or possibly something in Sydney, we'll see.

"We are going to concentrate on going to Royal Ascot for the Hardwicke Stakes, which will be his first major target.

"He's done very well this winter. He will benefit from all the time he can get. It's 'do we press the button now or wait a bit' and we plumped for the second option, we're going to wait a bit.

"He's pretty useful, he got better and better last year and we think he's done better again this winter, so I am very pleased with him."

Haggas will be represented in the big Australian races once again by Dubai Honour, who won both the Ranvet Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes last year before finishing a fine third to Romantic Warrior in the QEII Cup in Hong Kong.

"He'll go into quarantine on February 15. We're looking at the same two races as last year," said Haggas.

"I probably shouldn't have run him in the Eclipse, as he'd been on the go for a while, but there were only four runners and I thought he ran well for a long way in the Champion Stakes.

"To be honest, his whole summer was based around getting him in top shape to come to you [Australia] in February/March.

"He will be the same horse he was, I hope. I'd like him to come back for two years. If all goes well this year and he runs competitively, then basically it will be all the same again."

Two more could travel with Dubai Honour, as Post Impressionist, winner of the Old Borough Cup, and Mujtaba, last seen finishing second in the Huxley Stakes in May, are both pencilled in.

"Post Impressionist will run in the Sydney Cup, he's been bought by Lloyd Williams. He's in really good shape," said Haggas.

"Mujtaba might well go. I'm really pleased with his condition. He'll either go Ranvet or Tancred and then hopefully Queen Elizabeth.

"He's never won a Stakes race, in his only start last year he was second in a Group Two and then got colic. He's a good age, he's six but has only run nine times in his life."

Watch all the action from Royal Ascot live on Sky Sports Racing on June 18-22.