William Haggas does not bring horses to Australia for fun and when Dubai Honour (IRE) was added to the raiding party for this year, you had to assume the seven year-old son of Pride of Dubai would be coming here in top form and he duly produced his A game to beat Caulfield Cup winner Duke de Sessa (IRE) in the $1.5million Group I ATC Tancred Stakes (2400m) at Rosehill on Tuesday.
Ridden by Tom Marquand, he surged between runners to win by three-quarters of a length and heads next to the Group I ATC Queen Elizabeth Stakes which he won in 2023 after winning his Aussie debut in the Group I ATC Ranvet Stakes.
Stab
le representative Isabella Paul was thrilled to see her favourite deliver the goods.
"He was quite fresh coming into it. We didn't do a lot in the last week with aiming to run Saturday so I gave him a little blow on Saturday just to open him out again and hopefully take a bit of that freshness off, which I'm not sure I managed to do,” she said.
"He's just so cool and such a talented animal that he makes it easy."
Dubai Honour was a world traveller last year competing successfully in France, Germany and Hong Kong with this race his first test in 2025.
"Anyone that knows me knows how special this horse is to me and the whole team. He is an absolute star and at seven years old he has proved again that he is at that top class level. I couldn't be happier,” she added.
"He's the most perfect horse to travel and he never misses a beat. We never have to worry about him and he is the easiest horse in the world.
"We joke that he is like a labrador because he is just like my pet. I'm so proud of him, proud of Tom and the whole team."
Purchased for 110,000 guineas at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by Rabbah Bloodstock, Dubai Honour has the overall record of nine wins and nine placings from 29 starts.
Dubai Honour is the best of three winners from Mondelice, an unraced half-sister by Montjeu to Frankel’s globetrotting Group III winner Last Kingdom (USA), who stood for two seasons at stud in Australia.
The first prize cheque of $870,000 for Dubai Honour is enough to put Coolmore based Pride of Dubai back to the top of the Australian Sires List by earnings.
