Royal Ascot winner Haatem to miss the rest of the season

Royal Ascot winner and twice Classic-placed colt Haatem has been put away for a four-year-old campaign after connections decided to give him the winter to recover from the setback that ruled him out of last month's Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at the eleventh hour.

The Richard Hannon-trained three-year-old was a leading fancy for the Deauville contest until jockey James Doyle felt he was not right at the start that day after banging himself in the exit chute.

Winner of the Group 3 Craven Stakes on his return to action at Newmarket in April, Haatem finished third to Notable Speech and his own stablemate Rosallion back on the Rowley Mile in the 2,000 Guineas the following month.

Haatem and James Doyle win the Jersey StakesCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Following that, he was again behind his old foe Rosallion when second in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh after which he was sold to Wathnan Racing prior to Royal Ascot.

The son of Phoenix Of Spain then contributed to a productive week for Wathnan at Royal Ascot when landing the Group 3 Jersey Stakes.

Haatem was a 14-1 chance for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot next month, but he will now be put away to target Group 1s in 2025.

Richard Brown, the owner’s racing adviser, 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."

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