Interview with William Haggas

William Haggas trained a career best 176 domestic winners during 2026 and, having visited Somerville Lodge on Wednesday afternoon, hopes are high for another big campaign in 2026. Remarkably, Al Aasy, Dubai Honour and Hamish won multiple Pattern races between them last year and remain in training at the ages of nine, eight and ten respectively. Their success is testament to William's team who have done such a good job with the trio over the years. 

William kindly ran through over 100 horses during my interview for Ahead On The Flat, including the stable's four entries in the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster next month. As in previous years, the Cheltenham Festival Update will include some information gained from my visit - this will include information on a potentially high-class three year old who is expected to be running towards the end of March, plus news on horses who have been earmarked for AW Finals day on Good Friday.

On Wednesday, it was great to have lunch and catch up with leading bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley. We discussed all things Flat and jumps - Anthony bought the likes of Big Buck's, Kauto Star, Long Run and Master Minded and last year he purchased a hundred yearlings for the 2026 Flat season. Readers of last year's AOTF will be aware that Bromley's Best Buys featured Group 1 winning two year old Zavateri who won four of his five races as a juvenile scoring at 11/2, 18/1, 8/1 and 15/2. In addition, first time out winner Pathein (28/1) also featured in the article. The good news is that Anthony has agreed to pen something similar for the new edition.

We also discussed Talk The Talk, who is rated 149 and unlucky not to be unbeaten over hurdles. A Grade 1 winner at the DRF at Leopardstown recently, the Double Green owned runner is a leading contender for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Anthony also passed on news of two purchases who will be having their first runs for Dan Skelton shortly, including one at the Cheltenham Festival.

I will be updating the website shortly with full details of Ahead On The Flat and Updates. If you haven't ordered the One Jump Ahead Cheltenham Festival Update, please head to the Publications section of the site.