Haggas weighs Irish Derby or France for Derby runner-up Maltese Cross

Maltese Cross turned a Derby near-miss into a real campaign decision for William Haggas. After winning the Lingfield Derby Trial on May 9 and then finishing runner-up in the Betfred Derby at Epsom, the French-bred colt has stayed in the summer Classic picture rather than fading into the background.

The immediate fork in the road is clear: the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on June 28 or a trip to France for the Grand Prix de Paris. The Irish option keeps Maltese Cross on the most familiar path, another 1 1/2-mile Classic just 20 days after Epsom and another chance to turn Derby form into a Group 1 win. France asks something different. It would mean travel, a new setting and a race shape that may suit a horse who has already shown he can handle pressure but still has room to improve.

That is why the choice matters as much as the result at Epsom. Maltese Cross is no one-race wonder. Racing Post lists the Sea The Stars colt out of Nabatea by Camelot with a record of five runs, three wins and two seconds, along with lifetime earnings of about £467,047. He went into the Derby with enough class to be taken seriously, and the runner-up finish only sharpened the case that he belongs among the better middle-distance 3-year-olds in training.

Haggas does not need to prove Maltese Cross can compete at the top level. He already has. The question is how best to preserve the colt’s chance of converting that promise into a major win. Ireland would keep him in the Classic lane, with the prestige of the Curragh and the cleanest continuation of the Derby trail. France, by contrast, may offer a more measured step, a different tactical test and a target that keeps the colt in elite summer company without forcing him back into another hard domestic Classic so quickly.

The family angle adds weight too. 2026 marks 30 years since Shaamit gave Haggas his first Derby winner in 1996, when the trainer was still far from the established force he is now. Maltese Cross has put him back in that kind of company, and George Waud’s view of the colt’s no-nonsense professionalism only reinforces the sense that this is a horse built for serious races, not small ambitions. The next move will tell whether Haggas keeps him on the straight Classic road or sends him across the Channel for a different kind of summer prize.