William Haggas isn’t ruling out a tilt at the Lexus Melbourne Cup with Betfred St Leger third Desert Hero.
The colt was the centre of attention at Doncaster on Saturday with The King and Queen in attendance to see him bid for Classic glory and he ran what the trainer felt was a career best behind the impressive Continuous.
He told Monday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “I thought he ran a very good race. If you take a formline through Chesspiece, he’s improved. I think it was his best run, I think the handicapper will put him up from 110.
"I think Tom felt if they’d gone a stride faster it would have helped. We all thought there’d be plenty of pace but actually they didn’t go very fast, I think it was pretty steady early on.
"That should probably have played to his strengths as he’s a hose who won a Group race over a mile-and-a-half but Tom said while he didn’t overdo it he was always wanting them to go half a stride of faster. I think he stuck on very well and was very brave."
In terms of a potential trip to Australia the trainer added: “We want to leave all options open so the horse will go through his veterinary tests, I think we start tonight, and then a couple of days of MRIs tomorrow and Wednesday.
“We’ll get those completed. That doesn’t mean he’s definitely going but the weights come out tomorrow and then we’ll collate all the information and see what happens.”
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