Richard Hannon, whose star colts Rosallion and Haatem finished second and third behind Notable Speech in the Qipco 2000 Guineas, is hoping for another chance at Classic Glory.
With complete confidence in Rosallion—who is always respected—the handler from Wiltshire went to Newmarket. Rosallion finished his two-year campaign with Group One honours on Arc day in France.
In the season's first Classic, both he and Haatem lived up to the hype. He was viewed as Britain's best chance of stopping the highly anticipated City of Troy, while Haatem made his Guineas debut last month by winning the Craven over both course and distance.
Rosallion made strong progress through the one-mile race, eventually finding the Charlie Appleby-trained winner to be too strong in the latter stages. Meanwhile, Haatem demonstrated that his victory at Craven was no coincidence by placing third, losing by just over three lengths.
Hannon plans to use Rosallion to turn the tables on Notable Speech at Royal Ascot. However, before the St. James's Palace Stakes come into play, both of his colts will get another chance at the Classic Cherry later this month in the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh.
“I’m immensely proud of both horses, they ran good races and we’ll have a lot of sports with them throughout the year,” said Hannon. “The winner is an extremely good horse, I never want to see him again, but we might take him on at Ascot around a bend and it might be a different story. I think on the way, they’ll both go to Ireland, that’s the plan.”