A typical Haggas Saturday has set the yard up for Royal Ascot. Both the York winners were heavily backed and won well. Extremely Zain was indeed a Group Horse in a handicap backed from 9/2 into 15/8. I would expect him to go for the Bunbury Cup before going into Group company.
Thunder Call backed from 13/2 overnight into 4/1, was ridden very well to win the 125,000 York feature by Zac Lloyd who is well worth following on horses carrying low weights in handicaps next week. He looked and sounded like a rider out of the top drawer.
Masked Warrior was possibly unlucky to find a Chester race that was slowly ran. He ran well to finish 3rd and with that experience behind him can win off that mark of 89.
Backed from 4/1 into 7/4 the 4yo High Degree, with William and Maureen Haggas in attendance, was disappointing in finishing 3rd. I fully expect cheek pieces to be added on his next run. His run was very similar to Eternal Force at Hamilton. Both horses will win off their current marks.
Crown Office was backed from 7/1 into 4/1 but ran as anticipated, although did ok to finish 4th.
Another big day before Ascot at Chantilly on Sunday with Lilt the yards first ever runner in the Prix De Diane at 3.
The odds on favourite Diamond Necklace officially rated 113 will clearly take some beating but the next highest rated is Karl Burke’s Evolutionist on 110 and she looks a doubtful stayer, upped to 10f. Lilt has a rating of 105 but given the scope she has to improve from her York win – at odds of around 8/1 (the SP maybe bigger on the pari-mutual) she is well worth an each way interest.
Ceiren Fallon put up the daughter of Lope De Vega as his No 1 horse to follow from Somerville Lodge in 2026 and his judgement was vindicated by her win at York when she showed great determination to chase down So Regal over 8f .
She will undoubtedly improve for that run and for the step up to the extended 10f on Sunday. Her sire had his greatest moment over this course and distance when he was a hugely impressive winner of the French Derby on soft ground winning by over 3L with the Aiden O Brien favourite Cape Blanco well beaten.
Once again the draw at first glance has not been kind to Somerville Lodge in France with Lilt drawn 10 of 11. However 4 of the last 10 winners of the race have been drawn 8,9, 11 and 12 – and many placed horses have been drawn in double digit stall positions.
Discussing her chances on Thursday on the ‘Nick Luck Daily’ podcast William Haggas was quietly confident that the step up in trip and ground conditions would bring about improvement and he didn’t seem overly concerned about her inexperience.
Her dam Dank had her finest hour on fast ground winning the Grade 1 Breeders Cup Fillies and Mares over 10f. Ground conditions look likely to be perfect and there is good reason to believe that Lilt has a chance to go one better than Maltese Cross and give Somerville Lodge a first Group 1 winner of 2026.
Recommended Bet 0.50pt EW Lilt 8/1 1-2-3 Places
Lilt first runner for William Haggas in the Prix De Diane on Sunday.
Chrysalis Consortium 
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