William Haggas Economics maintained his unbeaten record when successful in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano at Deauville on Thursday.
William Haggas' colt carried a penalty to success in impressive fashion at Newbury before running out a scintillating six-length winner of the Group 2 Dante Stakes at York in mid-May.
Connections subsequently resisted the temptation to head to Epsom on the back of his commanding Derby trial success, a tactic that looks to have paid off after the son of Night Of Thunder ran on strongly to land Group 2 spoils on his return to action under Tom Marquand.
The tempo was a genuine one as Safwan took them along, while Marquand opted to bide his time on Economics, who sat last with the Ed Walker-trained Almaqam for much of the one-mile two-furlong contest. The pace began to lift as the field turned for home and having always been well-positioned under Sean Levey, Jayarebe quickly shot into a three-length advantage. However, after being pulled towards the centre of the track, Economics quickly found his stride and commenced devouring the ground up the Deauville straight. William Haggas' unbeaten three-year-old soon drew upsides Brian Meehan's Hampton Court scorer and with the minimum of fuss, swept on past for a comfortable two-length success.
The pair finished miles clear of Almaqam, who ensured it was a clean sweep for the UK.
Paddy Power cut Economics to 4/1 favourite (from 7s) for the Irish Champion Stakes and 5/1 (from 7s) for the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October. The same firm also cut the winner to 10/1 (from 16s) for the Arc, although William Haggas' star three-year-old would need to be supplemented.
Speaking to Equidia, winning jockey Tom Marquand said: "Obviously it's very early in his career still, but the decision to miss the Derby is now looking very right."
"The whole team at Sommerville Lodge judge their horses so perfectly and it's been the making of this horse."
When asked if this horse was capable of winning a Group 1, Marquand replied: "On that performance, you'd have to say yes. We all know it's not quite as easy as that, but he's proven today he's as good as he looked in the Dante and he remains so exciting."
