William Haggas - interviewed for the Two-Year-Old Guide

William Haggas had the best run-to-form percentage in June

Horse racing analysis | Trainers in form in June

By John Ingles

Horse Racing

Sat July 02, 2022 · 2y ago

John Ingles highlights the trainers whose strings have been in particularly good form throughout the last month.

*Trainers with at least 40 runners in June

WILLIAM HAGGAS

Winners and runners in June: 22/94
Strike rate in June: 23.4%
Timeform run-to-form percentage in June: 70.2%

Currently second to Charlie Appleby in the trainers’ championship, a high-strike rate is the norm for William Haggas but the stable’s excellent run-to-form percentage was maintained despite a busy month for the yard in June.

The obvious highlight of the month was Baaeed taking his unbeaten record to eight races with an easy win the Queen Anne Stakes and there was a second Royal Ascot winner for the stable when Candleford showed a deal of improvement to run away with the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes by six lengths on what was his first start of the year, showing smart form.

In addition, three-year-olds My Prospero, Sea Silk Road and Lysander all picked up place money in pattern races at Ascot, with the first-named going very close in third in the St James’s Palace Stakes, though it was the finishing burst of stable-companion Maljoom which really caught the eye just a neck behind him in fourth.

My Prospero’s half-brother My Oberon won a listed race for the yard at Windsor later in the month, while their half-sister My Astra ran well upped to Group One company when beaten half a length in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh. Haggas ended June with a bang, sending out four winners on the last day of the month at Haydock.

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SAEED BIN SUROOR

Winners and runners in June: 12/50
Strike rate in June: 24.0%
Timeform run-to-form percentage in June: 66.0%

The fact that half of Saeed bin Suroor’s winners in Britain this year all came within the last month shows how well the Godolphin trainer’s horses were running in June. More specifically, Bin Suroor finished the month with a flurry of winners, seven out of the stable’s thirteen runners being successful between the 22nd and 29th.

Among those successful in that period were useful sprinter City Walk who put up a career-best effort in the Gosforth Park Cup at Newcastle and Dubai Icon who produced a smart performance to win a mile handicap at Windsor. Even a win was conjured out of Dubai Mirage, a horse with a Timeform squiggle, who won his first race for almost two years when getting up on the line to win a mile handicap at Salisbury.

Earlier in the month, Bin Suroor had a Royal Ascot winner when Dubai Future was another to run a career best when landing the Listed Wolferton Stakes (replay below). Other indications of the stable’s good form at the Royal meeting were Mawj’s second in the Albany Stakes and a fine effort in defeat from current stable star Real World who finished closer behind Baaeed in the Queen Anne Stakes than he had done in the Lockinge.

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ED WALKER

Winners and runners in June: 7/43
Strike rate in June: 16.3%
Timeform run-to-form percentage in June: 65.1%

Ed Walker won his first Group One when Starman was successful in last year's July Cup and the yard is hitting form at the same time of year again after a month when it could boast one of the best run-to-form percentages. The highlight among seven winners for Walker in June was useful filly Glenartney's success in a Listed race at Pontefract.

But there were also some noteworthy efforts in defeat from some of the yard's runners contributing to that run-to-form percentage. Sprinter Mountain Peak outran his odds of 50/1 when touched off by a head in the 'Dash' at Epsom, running a career-best at the age of seven with a smart effort. Also beaten narrowly at long odds was Random Harvest, a neck runner-up at 40/1 in the Kensington Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The trainer's team at the royal meeting numbered only five, but there were also good placed efforts from Popmaster, runner-up in the Wokingham, and from Primo Bacio, who was third in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes.

JOHN & THADY GOSDEN

Winners and runners in June: 21/80
Strike rate in June: 26.3%
Timeform run-to-form percentage in June: 65.0%

Apart from William Haggas, only the stables of Charlie & Mark Johnston and Tim Easterby had more winners in June than that of the Gosdens, though those Yorkshire yards sent out considerably more runners.

But although successful with more than one in four of their runners in June, it wasn’t entirely plain sailing at Clarehaven where the month ended with stable jockey Frankie Dettori taking a much publicised ‘sabbatical’ from riding for the Gosdens following some mixed results at Royal Ascot where defeats for Stradivarius in the Gold Cup and Reach For The Moon, beaten at 2/5 in the Hampton Court Stakes, were among the disappointments.

On the other hand, Dettori also rode Inspiral to victory in the Coronation Stakes as the stable’s top two-year-old filly made a belated but scintillating return to action. The month had begun with Dettori being beaten a short head on Emily Upjohn in the Oaks, though there was better luck for the stable in the French equivalent three weeks later when Epsom third Nashwa won the Prix de Diane under Hollie Doyle.

Dettori rode five of the Gosdens’ winners in June, but Rab Havlin was the jockey who benefited most from the yard’s form with eleven wins at lower-profile fixtures.

History! HOLLIE DOYLE and NASHWA win the Prix de Diane Longines!

ED DUNLOP

Winners and runners in June: 13/61
Strike rate in June: 21.3%
Timeform run-to-form percentage in June: 63.9%

Without making any headlines, Ed Dunlop had a fine month in June with the stable’s good overall form reflected in an excellent strike rate.

Only one of the stable’s winners ran to a Timeform rating higher than 90 – that was Western Stars (92p) who won a class 4 event on his handicap debut at Pontefract – and was indicative of the yard’s success coming in ordinary handicaps for the most part. Western Stars was part of a William Buick double for the stable on the Pontefract card and contributed to a particularly successful end to the month which saw the stable rack up seven of its winners from the 21st onwards.

Dunlop’s current string lacks anything as talented as his past Oaks winners Ouija Board and Snow Fairy, but the latter’s son John Leeper is a smart flag-bearer for the yard and ran as well as ever when second in a Listed contest at York during the month. He could make his first start in a handicap at Newmarket’s July meeting.

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