Mukhadram sets the record straight
MUKHADRAM broke his Group One duck in yesterday’s CoralEclipse at Sandown and now has his sights set on the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 26.
The William Haggas-trained 14-1 shot had been a nearly horse going into the race with places at the highest level including the Dubai World Cup in March and a hampered third in last year’s Eclipse.
Mukhadram had also finished just over four lengths behind yesterday’s 5-2 favourite The Fugue when they met in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
But the slightly more restrained tactics being employed this season paid off for the winner.
He held off Jim BoIger’s Irish challenger Trading Leather — also King George bound — by two lengths with 100-1 Somewhat, running as a pacemaker for fifthplaced True Story, hanging on for third.
An unusually animated Haggas said: ‘It looked straightforward but I was jumping up and down a bit with two furlongs to go and not really concentrating. I think I may have kissed (racing manager) Angus Gold which is not really my style.
‘He was in good form today and really the forgotten horse. I would like to persuade His Highness to run him in the King George. His pedigree has a lot of stamina in it and I have always believed he is a resolute galloper.’
Mukhaddram’s win continues the resurgent season of owner Sheik Hamdan Al Maktoum with retained jockey Paul Hanagan.
They have already won the Oaks with Taghrooda and last week unleashed an exciting two-year-old in Faydhan — installed as favourite for the 2015 2,000 Guineas.
What was billed as a vintage Eclipse saw several of the leading candidates fail to land a blow, with their jockeys blaming slippery ground after steady rain.
William Buick, on The Fugue who finished sixth of nine, said: ‘The ground was just a bit loose and she needs it firm, simple as that.’
Ryan Moore also felt the surface was a problem for Verrazano, who was last. The result was not good for the three-year-olds. Derby runner-up Kingston Hill was outpaced in fourth while Night of Thunder faded.