William Haggas and Christophe Soumillon strike Deauville gold with Klondike

Christophe Soumillon produced a well-judged ride to land the Group 3 Prix de Reux on the William Haggas-trained Klondike. 

A week on from lighting up Ascot with Goliath in the King George, Soumillon was obliged by his wide draw to travel three-wide into the first turn but soon had Klondike settled behind leader Rashford, striking for home as the field turned for home and then holding the challenge of Sacred Spirit.

Making only his eighth start, the four-year-old son of Galileo was bouncing back from a below-par effort when sixth at York over 1m6f, although Haggas was inclined to think that ground rather than the drop back to an extended mile and a half was the key to Klondike's turnaround.

Haggas said: "I’m delighted. He had a good jockey on board who clearly knew what he was doing. He got stuck in soft ground at York and he’s clearly better on this quicker ground.

"He won his very first race when it was heavy and, although he is a good mover, I always thought he would handle soft ground, but I’m wrong about that."

The Prix de Reux is a springboard to the Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville at the end of the meeting, although Klondike is not entered and Haggas will consider going back up in trip with a horse whose dam, Koora, won the St Simon Stakes and has already produced a stakes winner at 1m4f in Godolphin's Kemari. 

"He’s a Group winner now, so hopefully he’ll go onwards and upwards, he’s going to have to," said Haggas. "But he’s from a family that improves with age. We all know what his father’s horses do. Hopefully, he’ll keep going."

Deauville remains favourite over York as the next destination for the Dante winner Economics, although Haggas is yet to fully commit to running in the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano.

"We’re hoping he’ll run there on the 15th," said Haggas. "It’s that or the Juddmonte, so we’ll take a view nearer the time. 

"He’s only run three times in his life and twice this year, and he's had a break. It looks like the right place for him. We hope we can get through that and then we can make some really ambitious plans. Not that this is not ambitious."

Among the potential opposition Economics could meet in the three-year-old's Group 2 is Royal Ascot winner Jayarebe as well as the Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Wahdan, for whom Al Shaqab are expected to field a pacemaker. 

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