The big weekend started well with the win of Infraad in the listed race at Ascot. Although the big gambles on Princling and Rhapsody in St Cloud didn’t come off. Luckily I chose just to watch…

Whether its 2yo maidens or nurseries, 3yo novice stakes or handicaps and even the older horses the Somerville Lodge record at Newcastle in the Autumn months, produces a 30-40% strike rate with fanc…

On Wednesday the 6f Class 2 conditions stakes at Kempton, sees the reappearance of the stable stalwart Montassib who runs in preparation for another tilt at Ascot’s Champions Sprint where he …

A good start to the week on Sunday for Somerville Lodge in the build up to the bid of Maltese Cross in the Arc De Triomphe. The fact that Haggas sent 4 runners to Epsom on Sunday was a tip in itsel…

Maltese Cross – Assessing His Arc Chance The realistic chance that Maltese Cross has of winning this year’s Arc de Triomphe will not be fully known until after the draw is revealed on Thu…

A very busy Sunday for the yard with Dubai Honour running in the Group 1 Prix Von Europa in Cologne for a third consecutive year, Valiancy bidding to bounce back to form in the Irish Ceserawitch at…

The lots for the Tattersalls Autumn Sales are released next Wednesday and it will be very interesting to see how many of the 4/5yo handicappers specifically kept in training this season are put up …

Given the poor Autumn record of the yard on the Rowley Mile course backing a horse from Somerville Lodge requires a great deal of deliberation. The surprise win of Zooming at 22/1 on Thursday was n…

Regular readers will be well aware that part of my obsession with Somerville Lodge horses is the trackable data and recurring patterns that can provide significant indicators of the chances of the …

The our words ‘Not Totally Straight Forward’ suggest minor caution when backing horses with this caveat however, recent experience indicates to me that when applied to a possible bettin…

The drift on Binhareer close to the off indicated that confidence was not as high as anticipated in the Ayr Gold Cup. He seemed to get trapped on the rail but more significantly once extracted did …

The weekend at Ayr got off to a very good start for the yard when Diplomata defied a huge drift to win at 5/2. Had I thought for a moment that would be her price she would have been a recommended a…

The busy week has taken Williams Haggas followers on a roller coaster journey that began with a 4 timer on Monday followed by 14 consecutive losers on Tuesday and Wednesday and then 2 winners on Th…

After 10 Blanks on Wednesday. !! A woeful Wednesday when the 3yo fillies couldn’t cope with tacky drying ground facing stiff up hill finishes. It was an error on my part as it was perfectly p…

I distinctly remember at the end of September 2016 commenting that Somerville Lodge would never better the total of 36 winners in the month. They certainly haven’t come close yet with the tot…

The next seven days will almost certainly see Somerville Lodge dispatch their highest volume of runners in a single week this season. Following six entries on Monday, William Haggas’ yard sad…

By Frankel out of the dam of Waldgeist the Arc winner Crown of Crowns must be one of the most valuable fillies to be in training at Somerville Lodge. That pedigree suggests that she is going to nee…

By Frankel out of the dam of Waldgeist the Arc winner Crown of Crowns must be one of the most valuable fillies to be in training at Somerville Lodge. That pedigree suggests that she is going to nee…

With up to 50mm of rain forecast for the Ayrshire coast next week there is a high expectation of a Soft or possibly Heavy ground Ayr Gold Cup meeting which will be the focus of attention for Somerv…

Silver Lake’s effortless victory at Doncaster marked her fourth consecutive triumph, securing yet another winning major festival for our selections. The momentum is firmly with us as we turn to Sat…

Frustratingly on Thursday unless you had a SkyBet account Gods Given Talent just missed out on the places in the big sales race finishing 5th. King of Earth as predicted again lacked focus on racin…

On Wednesday Fast Performer completely lost the plot at Carlisle and he faces the unkindest cut of all very shortly. It was confirmed that already suffering this fete was Saber Strike who following…

As I suggested in the Tuesday evening blog the 5 Somerville Lodge runners on Wednesday have all been cut and are now drifting, a pattern that is likely to continue back and forth until the off time…

Somerville Lodge sends out 5 runners on Wednesday, 3 at Kempton and a couple at Carlisle. All 5 have clear chances to maintain or improve the current strike rate in September. in the first 7 days t…

The Haggas 260/1 – 100% treble on Sunday, of course generates a feeling of what if and thoughts of ‘should I have taken greater risks’ and maybe backed more than just the 2yo winn…

The summer of inconsistency seemed determined to get the last dregs out of August with the performance of Divine Knight on Monday 31st. The change of month and move to the Autumn campaign has seen …

The first weekend in September featuring meetings at Haydock, Ascot and York has a big circle ringed around the Calendar in Somerville Lodge. Since 2021 over this weekend there have been 29 Class 1…

Thursday’s 10 runners ran with great credit and provided more than enough evidence to suggest that Saturday and Sunday can be very successful. The Haydock runners all handled the conditions r…

With numerous runners today I omitted to mention Frances Ethel is running at Longchamp in the 14f Listed contest at 15.50. Two minutes before the well regarded brother in Binhareer – Sharaad …

The first week of September is traditionally one of the busiest periods for the yard. In 2025, there were 34 runners. From eight runners in Class 2 and Class 3 handicaps at Ascot, Haydock and York …

No runners on Tuesday and no bets on Wednesday – Hardys Hero in the 20.00 at Kempton and Pierian 17.02 Bath both took big backward steps on their last outings and it is a guesswork to know if…

Haggas followers on Sunday experienced a dramatic raceday. Firstly Masked Warrior who was supported on the off from 15/2 into 5/1 got upset in the stall and was withdrawn. Then the 2yo Extragalacti…

The tenacity of Tenabilty rescued the day on Saturday after a below par performance from Bulletsnap another extremely well fancied 2yo after Pure Majesty and Lady Rosalind to go…

The forecast rain has arrived and with 10mm plus expected in the London area the going at Windsor and Sandown will surely ride Soft. This is excellent news for the Somerville Lodge runners. n the A…

Plus 20/1 Ante Post Recommendation. The uncertainty over the amount of rainfall expected over the next 72 hours makes betting over the Bank Holiday weekend precarious. On Saturday possibly due to l…

Thursday – Desert Treasure ran much better but lack of AW experience proved her undoing and she narrowly failed to get back into the winners enclosure. Our decision not to bet this week has p…

As predicted the early part of the week has not produced any winners for Somerville Lodge. It was baffling why Perfect Strike was heavily backed to be the market leader in the 2yo Novice at Newbury…

At the start of the current season William Haggas described his strategic change of keeping more older horses in training as making him ‘more like a National Hunt trainer’. Six months i…

No runners on Tuesday after Mondays rather strange entries, which as expected were not betting opportunities. Haggas has entered 30 horses on Saturday and Sunday with the expectation that the forec…