Oli Bell speaks to Hurworth Bloodstock's Sam Haggas ahead of Coronation Cup at Newmarket on Friday

Oli Bell: Sam, tell us a bit about yourself and Hurworth Bloodstock, sponsors of this year's Coronation Cup at Newmarket.

Sam Haggas: Hurworth Bloodstock was set up in 2019 and is aiming to cover all aspects of bloodstock in Flat racing, with a particular focus on horses-in-training.

I have grown up in racing all my life, but it is the form side of things that has always taken a grip, and it is that angle I am trying to play on in the bloodstock business.

Having spent over two years working in the racing team for Paddy Power, I worked for 18 months with John Ferguson, Mark McStay and Amy Lanigan at Avenue Bloodstock, before setting up Hurworth Bloodstock last year.

OB: What have been your major success stories so far?

SH: Urban Fox was a 425,000gns purchase from the 2017 Tattersalls December Mare Sale by Barnane Stud who, at the time, had plenty of black type but no stakes-winning form to her name. Sent to my parents William and Maureen Haggas for 2018, Urban Fox thankfully came good, winning the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, backed up by two subsequent seconds at Group One level.

Barnane Stud is a boutique stud farm in Tipperary owned by the Kieswetter family, who also have a major racing and breeding operation in South Africa. In 2019, Urban Fox was covered by Dubawi and, earlier this year, produced a colt foal.

Finche was a private purchase by Avenue Bloodstock on behalf of multiple champion trainer Chris Waller, and was shipped to Australia to continue his racing career.

Having finished a highly respectable fourth in the 2018 Melbourne Cup, Finche took the Group Three Kingston Town Stakes at Randwick in September 2019 prior to coming within inches of victory in the Group One Turnbull Stakes at Flemington.

Having endured a wide draw (and consequently a wide trip) in the $5,000,000 Caulfield Cup, Finche went to post in the 2019 Melbourne Cup as favourite, with a slowly-run race proving to be his downfall, finishing seventh in a bunched finish that saw him cross the line just one and a quarter lengths behind the winner.

All being well, he will return later this year for a third crack at the Melbourne Cup.

Miss O Connor was the first purchase made under the Hurworth Bloodstock banner, having won her only start at Gowran Park as a four-year-old in May last year.

Transferred to William and Maureen Haggas for owners Lael Stable, Miss O Connor maintained her unbeaten record in three subsequent starts last year, culminating in victories at Listed and Group Three level. She has a pronounced knee action and will likely continue to need some give in the ground if she is to show her best form; she stays in training as a five-year-old and can hopefully continue to climb through the ranks.

OB: How much are you looking forward to this Friday's big race, which has been transferred from Epsom to Newmarket?

SH: It is fantastic to see racing resuming in the UK, and it is an honour and a great thrill to be sponsoring as prestigious a race as the Coronation Cup, which will be run as the first Group One race of the 2020 Flat season in the UK.

With no less than five individual Group One winners making up the final field of seven, including last year’s Investec Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck, six-time Group One winner Stradivarius and Ghaiyyath, the second-highest rated horse in the world, this year’s renewal of the Coronation Cup should be an absolute cracker, and it is so exciting to play even a small part in such an event.

OB: How about a few choice names to follow for the rest of the Flat season...

• Click horse name for full profile, video replays and to add to My Stable tracker

SH: Jovial (Sir Michael Stoute)

Off a handicap rating of OR84, 3 year old filly Jovial could be one of the better handicapped horses in the country. She did very little wrong as a 2 year old, winning 2 of her 3 races and going to post as an odds-on favourite on each occasion. Indeed, she is only the 2nd juvenile from Sir Michael Stoute’s yard to have gone to post as an odds-on favourite on debut in the last 10 years, the other being subsequent Group 3 winner Convey back in 2014. As a Dubawi daughter of a Stakes-winning half-sister to Frankel, and a half-sister to Coronation Stakes 3rd Jubiloso, Jovial has one of the most enviable pedigrees in the stud book. Much like her dam, Joyeuse, and her grand-dam, Kind, Jovial looks to have plenty of speed; she can graduate to Stakes class this year.

Involved (George Boughey)

I could get in trouble here as he runs on Thursday, but Involved seems to be doing all the right things at home for trainer George Boughey. George set up as a trainer in Newmarket last year, and we managed to buy 4 horses out of the 2019 Tattersalls Horses in Training Sale, one of them being Involved from Dan Kubler’s yard. A lightly-raced 5 year old gelding, Involved didn’t enjoy the soft ground at Chester last time out, and the ground at Newmarket this Thursday should be much more to his liking. Prior to lockdown, George was operating at a 35% strike-rate for 2020, and it is no surprise to learn that he is relishing the return of the sport. Involved reappears in the 6.30 at Newmarket on Thursday with James Doyle on top; he could bring plenty of fun this season.

Swindler (Ed Walker)

A very lightly-raced four year old gelding, Swindler showed serious ability at sprint distances last year, with his ‘hold up, finish late’ style proving extremely effective down Ascot’s straight. There looks to still be plenty of mileage in his mark of OR96, and he looks tailor-made for the Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot, a race that his owner Bjorn Nielsen took with Interception back in 2015. Swindler has a few quirks and ideas of his own, but the engine is very much there. All being well, he can prove Stakes class this year.

Domino Darling (William Haggas)

Domino Darling: 3 Golden Horn fillies went to post in a 1m Doncaster fillies maiden in October last year and all three came out of the race looking to hold Stakes class potential, with Domino Darling edging out the well-backed Gold Wand in a narrow finish, with the pair 4½ lengths clear of the 3rd who, along with the 5th, 6th and 9th-placed, have since won races. On heavy ground, the winning time stood out on the card, and there is every chance that Domino Darling can prove Group class on the evidence of her first start. Furthermore, as a half-sister to dual Group 3 scorer Namibian (with his Stakes wins coming at 1m4f and 2m), Domino Darling looks likely to find plenty of improvement stepped up in distance.

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