Tancred honours go to Haggas’ globetrotting star
The William Haggas-trained Dubai Honour (Pride Of Dubai) preserved his unblemished record in Sydney Group 1 races when he added the Tancred Stakes (Gr 1, 2400m) to his back-to-back 2023 triumphs in the Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
With nine of the 11 runners bred in the northern hemisphere, this apparent domination came to fruition at the finish with imports filling the first nine spots, with a pair of New Zealand-breds running tenth and last respectively.
Despite being an Irish-bred, Australia can still lay claim to Dubai Honour with the gelding being from the first of Pride Of Dubai’s three northern hemisphere-bred crops. The win was also an important one for the Coolmore Stud stallion, propelling him back to the top of Australia’s general sires table by earnings, seeing him move a little under a $1 million in front of his nearest rival, Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
Dubai Honour earned Haggas a sixth Group 1 in the Harbour City and also delivered a late present for Tom Marquand, who gave the evergreen seven-year-old a textbook steer two days after celebrating his 27th birthday.
Provided he pulls up well, Dubai Honour will now attempt to secure a second Queen Elizabeth Stakes, setting up the potential for a mouthwatering clash with Chris Waller’s stable star Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) in ten days’ time.
Dubai Honour and last-start winner Vauban (Galiway) vied for favouritism in a heated pre-race betting tussle, and while it was the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained gelding who eventually edged that battle it was Dubai Honour who won the war with a strong staying performance in the sort of conditions he relishes.
The give in the ground worked in his favour, as Dubai Honour eventually pulled clear of Ciaron Maher’s gallant Caulfield Cup (Gr. 1, 2400m) winner Duke De Sessa (Lope de Vega) with Vauban rounding out the top three under Tim Clark.
Such is his docile demeanour, Haggas’ stable representative Isabella Paul compared Dubai Honour to a pet “labrador”. But the labrador had to fight like a lion to score his ninth career win by three-quarters of a length.
“Anyone that knows me knows how special this horse is to me and the whole team,” said Paul.
“He is an absolute star, and at seven years old he has proved again that he is at that top class level so I couldn’t be happier. He’s the most perfect horse to travel, he never misses a beat. We never have to worry about him and he is the easiest horse in the world.
“We joke that he is like a labrador because he is just like my pet. I’m so proud of him, proud of Tom and the whole team. He’s just so cool and such a talented animal.”
Marquand echoed those sentiments and was keen to defer praise to both horse and stable, claiming the seasoned campaigner made his task easy.
“He felt like the winner a long way from home,” said the jockey dubbed “Aussie Tom” by the locals.
“As a jockey there are horses that give you certain feelings, and at the top of the straight I went out rather than going back in but I think he would’ve won either way, to be honest. Issy [Paul] does a great job every year and credit to William [Haggas] and [owner] Mohamed Obaida, to be brave enough to bring the horse back time and time again, I’ve got the easy job I think.
“I’ve been here a couple of weeks now and it was starting to get a bit dull to be honest, I’m lucky that I’ve been riding a few for Australian-based trainers but you come here to compete in the Group 1s and it is really satisfying when you pull it off.”