Haffner
26th-Sep-2026
I thought that Haffner should have been clear favourite for the Royal Lodge Stakes.
Aidan O’Brien’s colt is a high-class juvenile. He was only just beaten in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes, and he won the Group 3 Acomb Stakes impressively. He was well beaten last time in the National Stakes, but that obviously wasn’t his running. He was behind Trean there, whom he had beaten well in the Acomb Stakes.
Of course he has to bounce back from that, but the fact that he is making the trip obviously means that Aidan O’Brien thinks that he can leave that run behind him, and he won his maiden on Newmarket’s other track. And he will have Ryan Moore for company.
He is officially rated 5lb superior to Quest For Stars and 9lb superior to First Law and 13lb superior to Burning Up. Of course, any or all of those three could improve past him, but that is a fair amount of leeway and Haffner could improve again himself. His dam is a half-sister to top-class stayer Order Of St George, so the step up in trip to a mile could bring about further progression, and he races over seven furlongs as though it will.
HAFFNER WON (ADV 7/2, SP 7/4)
Back