We have seen him race just six times to date and there is good reason to hope that the best could still be to come for the strapping four-year old Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}).

Whatever else he goes on to achieve, it would be hard to surpass the delight he delivered for Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa in securing his first Group 1 triumph in the race sponsored by the owner’s home nation, the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes. The mind of the colt’s trainer William Haggas is already turning over with pencilled-in plans for the season ahead and, despite the expert help he has on hand at his Somerville Lodge stable, he has added what he hopes will be a beneficial twist to the current training schedule of Economics by sending him off for some schooling with Olympic gold medal-winning eventer Laura Collett. And by that, we don’t mean schooling in the racing sense of popping him over a few hurdles, but the laying of a good foundation of flatwork in an arena. Done properly, particularly in partnership with a rider of Collett’s calibre, this steady, collected exercise encourages a horse to use different muscles to those relied upon in the daily routine of traditional racing training, in turn enhancing strength and balance.

Economics is reportedly a model pupil. “He’s an intelligent horse, and Laura thinks he’s wonderful,” says Haggas.

Collett would know a thing or two about sitting on a good Thoroughbred. Her experience in this field includes riding the great steeplechaser Kauto Star in his conversion from racehorse to dressage horse, and she previously did similar work with the Haggas stable’s Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}) in the days before he was a three-time Group 1 winner.

The trainer continues, “She said she wanted to give Economics another week last week, and I said, ‘You can have two if you want.’ We trust her to do what is right for him, and it’s very much a team game, because it was the introduction from Yogi Breisner who set us up with Laura, with Dubai Honour initially. And really we’ve been a fan ever since, and of course Maureen gets it.”

Haggas’s wife Maureen previously competed in eventing herself and remains one of the key riders at Somerville Lodge. She was doubtless instrumental in the arrangement which sees the former British Eventing team performance manager Yogi Breisner appear at their Newmarket stable once a month to offer tuition to riders in the yard. 

While it is still only February, in Newmarket it is hard not to yearn for those days of high summer and top-class Flat racing, and it may well be at Royal Ascot where we witness the return of Economics. He last ran at Ascot in the G1 Qipco British Champion Stakes and was seen to have some blood in one nostril after finishing sixth in testing underfoot conditions.

Haggas says, “He was an immature horse last year, and I’m really hoping that this will be his year. His first main target is the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. I’m not intending to force him any earlier than that, because a lot of the types of races he’s going to run in are from Ascot onwards. But if he needs a run, it’s possible he could go for the [Prix] Ganay. I wouldn’t want to run him on very heavy ground again, because that didn’t appear to suit him at Ascot. But essentially, we’re looking at the Prince of Wales’s and then we’ll take it from there.”

He adds, “The trip that he will be running over is the great trip for a four-year-old because there are lots of valuable and prestigious options. I always thought he would stay a mile and a half but I’m not sure whether we’ll ever do it. I actually thought he might be better at a mile and a half, but he’s pretty good at a mile and a quarter.”

The aforementioned Dubai Honour is one of a team of four soon heading from the Haggas stable to Sydney, which has become a regular – and highly lucrative – stomping ground for the trainer. Now seven, Dubai Honour took New South Wales by storm two years ago when winning the G1 Ranvet and G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes – two obvious repeat targets for him this time around. Success in either would also help bolster the charge of his sire Pride Of Dubai, who currently leads the Australian general sires’ table. 

Since his previous Australian foray, Dubai Honour won last year’s G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and was last seen chasing home his Newmarket neighbour Giavellotto (Ire) to be second in the G1 Hong Kong Vase.

“Verry Elleegant has died, sadly,” says Haggas of the great Australian-trained mare who tussled, honours even, with another of Haggas’s multiple Group 1 winners in the country, Addeybb (Ire).  “But we’ve now got a new challenger in Via Sistina. She’s obviously very good, and is much the best horse there. So she might be a tough nut to crack, but we should never be frightened of one.”

Joining Dubai Honour on the journey south is the King and Queen’s Royal Ascot winner Desert Hero (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

“He’s in good shape at the moment. Long may that continue,” Haggas reports. “And we’re taking a six-year-old called Al Mubhir, who is by Frankel. He likes a bit of cut in the ground, but copes on faster ground. He’s ready for a trip abroad and I think he’ll enjoy it very much.”

Completing the quartet is four-year-old Marama (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), a seven-length winner at Chester last September who will remain in Australia having been bought by a local syndicate. 

“We’ve been very lucky in Sydney,” says Haggas, whose most recent plunder of a huge pot came with Lake Forest (GB) (No Nay Never). Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy’s Gimcrack winner of 2023 won the A$10m Golden Eagle at Rosehill  last November, dashing the hopes of the Nurlan Bizakov-owned Lazzat (Fr) in the dying strides to pick up the equivalent of  just over £2.8m in prize-money.

“When Lake Forest won there, blimey, that was extraordinary. I haven’t talked to the owners yet, but I quite fancy going to Hong Kong at the end of April for the Champions Mile. And then he’ll go to Ascot, hopefully, for the Queen Anne. He won over seven and a half [in Australia], finishing well. We’ll campaign him over a mile. Seven’s a bad trip in Europe, but he wants top of the ground. I don’t think he’ll get it early on, so maybe Hong Kong is the right shout. And he might well end up back in Australia or at the Breeders’ Cup. We’ll have to work that out, whether he goes to Australia for a race in Sydney and then a race in Melbourne in October/November, or goes to the Breeders’ Cup in California. We’ll have to see. But he’s a pretty good horse, I think. To do what he did was pretty outstanding.”

Haggas begins his international campaign for 2025 this Saturday in Qatar, where he will run Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum’s Yaroogh (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the Al Rayyan Mile. 

“He just got beaten a nose in the Horris Hill,” he says of the three-year-old, who won three races last year, including the Listed Prix Saraca at Chantilly.

“He’s got a great draw, but he needs a thunderstorm really and he’s not going to get it. But he’s very well, and he’s a hardy bugger. He likes going forward, which I think will suit him around there. So hopefully he will run a nice race.”