William Haggas must hit back after blank domestic Group 1 tally

William Haggas was a fascinating guest on Luck on Sunday this week – he nearly always is – and if you’ve not already done so then it is well worth going back to seek the interview out.

He spoke about Saturday’s Balmoral Handicap winner Crown Of Oaks and the way that Champions Day finale played out, much to his surprise; how horses like that can improve out of all recognition after being gelded; and he went on to vent his frustration over Oisin Murphy, admitting that the champion jockey “probably won’t speak to me ever again”. Murphy, it may come as little surprise to some, was among the first to re-post the clips of him being blasted which surfaced on X late-morning.

I enjoyed Haggas’s take on the “little bit of friction” between Aidan O’Brien and John Gosden this year, which Gosden seemed to try and settle – or stir up again depending on your view I suppose – by referring to Delacroix finishing behind Ombudsman again in his RTV interview with Lydia Hislop post-Champion Stakes.

That has been a good rivalry between the two colts, winners of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, Coral-Eclipse, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes between them. But there’s no question now that Saturday’s winner, the gelded Calandgan as he is pointedly referred, is as good as we've seen this year – and that was probably the best middle-distance performance I’ve seen since the Haggas-trained Baaeed stepped up from a mile and waltzed in at York in 2022.

WATCH: Calandgan storms to victory in the British Champion Stakes

Calandagan’s trainer Francis Graffard was on Saturday celebrating a 12th Group 1 victory of 2025. But with no entry in next Saturday’s Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster, Haggas will end this year without a domestic top-class winner to his name.

He felt sure he’d never have another horse like Baaeed after that one’s racing career ended in Champion Stakes disappointment three years ago and although Economics threatened to come close to a similar sort of level with his Leopardstown triumph last September, it could now be the end of the road for him after he bled from the nose again when finishing eighth of the 11 runners on Saturday.

Haggas blamed himself for setting such a stiff task on the chestnut's return from his latest layoff before appearing to keep the door ajar for another potential comeback at some point, but that looks a longshot to me – even by this year's Champions Day standards.

He said on Racing TV's Luck On Sunday programme: “We had a momentous season last year. To win the Champion Stakes in Ireland was absolutely fantastic, so we had a golden moment. We were so lucky to have him and he came from nowhere as a two-year-old, he just looked like a big, backward horse and then he really sprouted wings.”

He might have ruffled a few feathers as a relatively frustrating season begins to draw to a close, and may never again have the services of one of the best riders in the world, but Haggas will soon be enjoying more golden moments and I'm sure he'll be back at the top table next year – he nearly always is.

WATCH: Our experts' jumps horses to follow

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