3 minute read

William Haggas looks to have a very smart prospect on his hands after Economics eased clear of a talented field to land the Group 3 Dante Stakes at York.

An eye-catching fourth over seven furlongs on his debut at Newmarket last November, the flashy chestnut made no mistake when getting off the mark in style at Newbury on his reappearance in April.

The son of Night Of Thunder was sent off a 6/1 chance to take the step up in class in his stride and in all truth, success was never really in doubt as William Haggas' charge strode clear for an emphatic six-length triumph of the one-mile two furlong Epsom Derby Trial.

William Haggas' sizeable three-year-old travelled powerfully in the hands of Tom Marquand and despite rolling around up Knavesmire straight, he was fully in command on just his third racecourse appearance.

The 7/4 market leader Ancient Wisdom, who was making his first outing since winning the Group 1 Futurity Trophy at Doncaster as a two-year-old, kept on best of the rest to fill the silver medal position, with Owen Burrows' War Rooms back in third. 

Plenty of Dante Stakes winners have gone onto Epsom glory but the William Haggas-trained impressive colt doesn't look destined for the downs having been taken out of the June showpiece at the latest stage. Connections can supplement at the cost of £75,000, while the Dante Stakes also acts as a win and you're in race for the Irish Derby. Economics also holds an entry in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot next month. 

"William has always liked him, and he is a talented horse," said the wife of William Haggas and assistant trainer Maureen. "He's beautiful, but still a baby. We'll see about the Derby, it's not my department.

"I'm not sure he'll stay a mile and a half; I think the more he races the more switched on he'll become, and 10 furlongs will be his best trip.

"I thought he looked a bit all over he place in the final furlong, he's a big horse and this is just his third race. You've got to be switched on to go around there. It's a big ask for any horse. He's an inexperienced, big baby.

"The Derby is the one we all want to win, we've been lucky enough to win it once, but it was that long ago I've almost forgotten what it was like. We'd love to win it again, but we have a very nice horse and there are a lot of other nice races to win, and we need to make sure he stays a nice horse and that has to be the priority.

"We took him out (of the Derby) because we didn't think he'd stay and I'm still not sure he would."

Winning jockey Tom Marquand was also suitably impressed. He said: "To be honest I couldn't really believe it, I just thought he had so much to learn after Newbury. That was a mile and obviously going up on trip was always going to help.

"I popped him on the back of William (Buick, Ancient Wisdom) and he had Ryan (Moore, on Cambridge) keeping him in a bit of a pocket and that was an advantage to him as he was conserving energy, and he was the one to keep an eye on.

"I went to follow Ryan and to be honest I lit his fuse to make sure I stayed on the same line and he was electric, I lit his fuse and he did it a hell of a lot faster than I anticipated and I had to take a bit of a tug to make sure I didn't hit the front too soon – which I still managed to do.

"I think he's a very talented horse, he's still learning on the job as he just had a wander when he hit the front, but he's exciting for the future."