- Economics should really be the 6/4 favourite for the Epsom Derby after trial win
- The horse won The Al Basti Equiworld Dante Stakes at York by six lengths
- Trainer William Haggas thinks Economics is the best three-year-old in his yard
Things are never straightforward when it comes to Economics and how that point was proven once again this time on the racecourse.
On the basis of what we saw in The Al Basti Equiworld Dante Stakes, Economics should really be the 6/4 favourite for the Epsom Derby. He ran away with what is always the most significant trial for the most prestigious Classic, pummelling a field of handsome colts, by six yawning lengths.
There is no question racegoers at York – and those watching from afar – witnessed a young horse of immense potential. Trainer William Haggas regards Economics as the best three-year-old in his yard and jockey Tom Marquand looked mesmerised when he returned to the winner’s enclosure.
Let it be said here and now that Economics will win Group One races this summer but the chances of whether he will win the most historic Group One of them all is complicated. He did have an entry at Epsom but Haggas took him out at the last forfeit stage, feeling he is too immature for the test.
Did this convince him to change his mind? The situation could be rectified by paying £75,000 at the next supplementary stage, for the race on June 1, but Haggas isn’t prepared to leave future riches behind by asking Economics to swing around Epsom’s helter-skelter cambers.
Economics easily won the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes at York by six lengths
Trainer William Haggas regards Economics as the best three-year-old horse in his yard
‘The whole point of taking him out was I didn’t think it was the right track and the right race for him at this stage of his career,’ said Haggas, who won the Derby with Shaamit in 1996. ‘He’s a great big, immature horse – and I stick by that.
‘I haven’t spoken on the subject to his owner, Sheikh Isa, and his advisors so that might change. We discussed it at length when we talked about the Derby. Winning the Derby is of course everyone’s dream, we all want to win it, but it takes a type.
‘Maybe we’re wrong and maybe after I’ve talked to His Highness he’ll say I’d like him to run in the Derby, in which case we’ll run him. But we’ll see. He’s also by Night Of Thunder (a sire who best days on the track were over a mile)
‘So although he looked like he’ll stay an extra furlong and a half, it’s not a certainty. It’s a win and you’re in for the Irish Derby (on June 30) so that could be an option for him, if we wanted to go a mile and a half.’
It would take a brave man to question Haggas, a meticulous judge of horses, but the visual impression that Economics left as he scampered past 7/4 favourite Ancient Wisdom – one of last season’s leading juveniles – was stark. It took two furlongs for Marquand to pull him up.
Such was the enthusiasm for the performance, one giddy racegoer should “Maureen, that’s the Minstrel!” to Haggas’s wife, as she led Economics back in. The Minstrel, famously, was ridden by Maureen’s father, Lester Piggott, when he won the Derby in 1977.
She smiled at that reference and agreed that nothing is better than having a colt in the yard who is giving everyone reason to dream but, equally, the realists in them know that a bad experience at Epsom can permanently extinguish the flame of a horse’s talent.
‘He still looked pretty babyish in the closing stages,’ Maureen Haggas said of Economics, who had traces of blood around his nostrils as he was being washed down. ‘All options are open but we would need to consider carefully what we do next. We have to make sure he fulfils his potential.
Maureen Haggas said Economics looked ‘babyish’, and would strongly consider his options
‘We have always liked him. The decision for Epsom is not my department, thankfully. I’m not sure he will stay a mile-and-a-half. I think a mile-and-a-quarter will be his best trip. He’s a big, big horse and this is his third race. You have got to be neat and tidy when you travel around there.
‘The Derby is a fantastic race. We all want to win it. We won it a long time ago and want to remember how that feels. But we have a very nice horse and there are a lot of very nice races. We want to make sure he stays a very nice horse. And that is the priority.’