Haatem setback ‘nothing serious’ but season still over

There will be no further action this season for Royal Ascot hero Haatem, with owners Wathnan Racing focussing on a 2025 campaign following the setback he suffered prior to the start of the Prix Jacques le Marois.

Trained by Richard Hannon, the son of Phoenix Of Spain won the Craven Stakes before placing in both the 2000 Guineas and Irish equivalent for former owner Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah earlier in the campaign.

A key signing by Qatari operation Wathnan in the build-up to Royal Ascot, he successfully dropped back to seven furlongs at the summer showpiece to outbattle Kikkuli in a thrilling finish to the Jersey Stakes.

Haatem was then a leading contender for his proposed return to Group One level at Deauville last month, but big-race jockey James Doyle was unhappy with his mount on the way to the start and he was subsequently withdrawn as the opposition began to load for the key mile contest.

Investigations revealed the cause of Haatem’s setback, and although it is described as “nothing serious”, and with the colt holding entries for races such as the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Qipco British Champions Day later in the autumn, connections have made the decision to call time on his three-year-old campaign.

Richard Brown, racing adviser to the owners, said: “We’ve got to the bottom of what was troubling him that day and, the good news is, it’s nothing serious.

“But it would be a race against time to get him back for the obvious end-of-year targets, so we’ve drawn stumps and hope to have him back in top form for the big mile races next season.”