For racing fans heading on our Discover Newmarket Tours, the chance to spot some of their favourite horses and on the gallops is an exciting highlight.

With the flat season fast approaching, the Home of Horseracing has started to see some of the big guns return from their winter breaks and resume their preparations in anticipation of some of the big race prizes on offer for the coming season. In this latest blog we will be looking at five horses to follow from the yard of William Haggas, perfect timing seeing as we are heading there for our Feature Tour and Country Mile Tour on the 16th of March.

SEA OF CLASS

This was an easy name to add to the list. Who could forget the exploits of this brave chestnut filly when mowing down the eventual winner in the Prix De l’Arc De Triomphe and just coming up short. It was a gutsy performance when you consider how the race panned out and the fact that she had it all to do from the draw. In six starts to date she has never finished worse than second and boasts  the Irish Oaks and Yorkhire Oaks, both Group One successes to go with two listed race wins.  She is going to have her followers this coming season and there’s lots of excitement around her reappearance in the coming months.

Relive that epic race by watching the replay below. Will we see her try go one better this year?

DESTINATION

A flashy son of Mukhadram who is bound to turn heads when he eventually makes his racecourse debut. Word from the yard is that he is a strong horse with a nice temperament and will appeal to the crowds when stepping out. A three-year-old, he’s a Cheveley Park Stud homebred and will  be running in their familiar red, white and blue silks. There’s no word yet on when he’ll be making his bow but the dam,  Danehill Destiny, was also trained from Somerville Lodge and managed a listed success as a career highlight and was also placed at Group level.

MUTHMIR

One of the stable stalwarts and now a nine-year-old this horse is a consistent honest sort who will be looking to give the stable some big race sprint success this coming flat season. He had a busy campaign during the 2018 season with nine runs, winning the listed Achilles Stakes at Haydock in the process, and has enjoyed a  break over winter and has recently returned to the yard and is getting back into the swing of things as the countdown to the new  season approaches.  One of his biggest successes to date is a win in the  Prix Du Gros-Chene (Gr 2) at Chantilly.

YOUNG RASCAL

This horse  was involved in one of the most exciting finishes of  last season when dead-heating  in a Group Three at Newbury. It was a gutsy and thrilling performance and meant that he scored  a trio of successes at that level in 2018. He’d won the Chester Vase in May as part his build-up to the Derby (beating eventual second place finisher Dee Ex Bee in the process) before winning at Newbury in September. He’s an exciting sort to chase some of the bigger prizes on offer and will form part of a big arsenal of Haggas runners in the new term.

DERBY HOPES

It’s still very early days, and the nature of the entry process means that some horses holding tickets for a Derby appearance may yet still have the jury out on their abilities. However, at this stage of the game, Somerville Lodge hold tickets in the form of Space Walk, owned by Her Majesty the Queen, Faylaq, Current Option, Montzar, Two Bids and Jahbath for the showpiece on the 1st June.

If you’re a keen follower of the William Haggas string then you won’t want to miss our visit to Somerville Lodge on the 16th March as part of our Feature Tour. To book your places, click here to find out more

• *Images courtesy of Somerville Lodge