If you don’t recognise the name of William Haggas, you could be excused, especially if you don’t know the world of flat racing all that well. There is a very good chance that the name of Haggas’s father-in-law is one that you will have heard of, however, when you consider the fact that he was married to the daughter of famed jockey, Lester Piggott.
Not that Haggas ever made his name because of the family that he married into, of course, becoming a hugely successful trainer in his own right, becoming a Royal trainer for Queen Elizabeth II in 2013.
About
William Haggas was actually born William Haggis, but changed his name so as not to be thought of as being a Scottish delicacy. Based at Newmarket’s Somerville Lodge, he was educated at Harrow and went on to play cricket at a decent level, captaining the Harrow side against Eton in 1979. Initially working in his father’s textile factory, he chose to quit the job after just three months before heading off to Newmarket and learning how to be a trainer under both John Winter and Mark Prescott. He then took out a licence to be a trainer in his own right, saddling his first winner in 1987.
In spite of his training and his ever-improving reputation, he boasted quite a small yard and had just 40 horses under his name when he trained his first winner of one of English flat racing’s Classics, winning the Derby with Shaamit in 1996. When he won the Oaks in 2011, it meant that he won two of the Epsom Classics with his first two runners, whilst his third entry came fourth in the Oaks in 2012. A year later and he was appointed as a Royal trainer, seeing Purple Spectrum win his first race for Queen Elizabeth II in a maiden race taking place at Windsor in the May of 2014.
Major Successes
You don’t get appointed as a Royal trainer without having something about you, so it’s fair to say that it is probably easier to list the races that Haggas didn’t train the winner of rather than those he did. Being a flat racing trainer predominantly, it goes without saying that most of his biggest wins came at the likes of Epsom Downs Racecourse, but he has also been in the Winners’ Enclosure in countless other countries around the world. He won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Ranvet Stakes in Australia, for example, as well as events in France, Ireland and Germany, amongst others.
Here is a look at some of the races that Haggas trained the winner of:
- Epsom Derby
- Epsom Oaks
- Cheveley Park Stakes
- Eclipse Stakes
- Haydock Sprint Cup
- Yorkshire Oaks
- Prix de Royallieu
- Irish Oaks
- Gran Criterium
- Tancred Stakes
Horses Trained
It isn’t exactly outrageous to suggest that the Royal Family owns some excellent horses, which is just part of the reason why Haggas has a long list of decent horses to his name. With a career that has spanned several decades, it goes without saying that he’s witnessed some much-loved horses make their way through his yard over the years. Names like Sea of Class, Dubai Honour and Lake Forest have all been trained by Haggas, whilst it was Purple Spectrum that allowed him to get his first winner for the Queen on the board in Windsor back in the May of 2014.
Here are some of the best horses trained by Haggas, although the list is obviously far from exhaustive:
Shaamit
If you want to really stand out from the crowd in the world of flat racing, you need to get one of the Classics across the line. That is why Shaamit will stand out in the list of famed winners trained by Haggas, thanks to the fact that the Irish-bred colt won the Epsom Derby for him back in 1996. Bred by his owner, Khalifa Dasmal, he was sired by Mtoto out of Shomoose and took part in just six races during his career. He was ridden by Michael Hills in four of them, with Pat Eddery taking the role for the other two. He won the Sureflow Maiden Stakes before taking home the big prize at Epsom Downs.
Dancing Rain
Bred in Ireland before being run in the land of her birth as well as England, Germany and Japan, Dancing Rain entered Haggas’ Somerville Lodge for her training. Not a promising horse that Haggas actually labelled as ‘hopeless’ during her early outings, she won her first start as a three-year-old, but actually broke the leg of Maureen Haggas, William’s wife and her training rider, just a month before her success in the Epsom Oaks. She also won the British Champions Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes and the Preis der Diana in the same year, which was 2011.
Aqlaam
There are numerous horses that we could’ve picked as examples of excellent ones that were trained by William Haggas, with Aqlaam earning the right thanks to success in the Jersey Stakes in 2008, as well as both the Summer Miles Stakes and the Prix du Moulin a year later. A bay horse that had a small white star, he was bred at Granham Farm in England having been sired by Oasis Dream out of Bourbonella. In the wake of his career as a rider, Aqlaam also had some success as a breeding stallion but died when he was just an eight-year-old in the October of 2013.
