‘Everyone is entitled to an opinion’ …. a [sort of] sorry Haggas goes again

Maureen Haggas delivered Zac Purton a decent spray last week for his ride on Lake Forest in the King Charles III Stakes.

She said Purton delivered a “dreadful ride” that was the “worst ride I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life” and sat on the horse “like a big sissy” on Lake Forest in the King Charles III Stakes. You can read Betsy’s story here. 

The vast majority of the racing world defended Purton, suggesting the horse is to blame, not the star jockey.

Haggas took the opportunity to clear up the mess on Friday in the UK – before delivering Purton another whack on the way through.

Under some rather gentle questioning, she said that her spray at Purton, one of the world’s best jockeys, was “a bit of fun anyway”.

“Well, look, it’s caused a bit of controversy. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, and not everyone will agree with me, some people do, and I don’t agree with lots of people’s opinions, but everyone is entitled to an opinion,” she told Racing TV.

“I suppose providing they’re pontificating on something they’ve got a little bit of knowledge of. The only thing I, you know, I probably went a bit over the top, and I was wrong to involve James McDonald, who I have apologised to, because actually he did nothing wrong on our horse, but it just sort of came out at the end and that was wrong.”

She may be sorry, but Haggas doubled down on her view on Purton’s ride, before making a joke on some booze she won during the day, which might help calm a few down.

“You know Lake Forest is not an easy horse, he’s very lazy and you have to get stuck into him to make him race and if you watch all of his previous races … you will see that and there’s a big difference,” she said.

“Look it’s done and dusted now and it’s over and it’s given everyone a lot of laughs and the great thing is today we’ve won three races and the prizes have all been alcohol so it’s just my dream come true, so you’re lucky that you speak to me before I got stuck in really.”

Haggas however, when questioned, did agree that racing is one sport where opinions aren’t as freely expressed as other sports.

“I’m not a jockey basher. I was brought up with a jockey. I know what they go through. It’s not easy to get where they want to get, so I understand it. But the fact that I was so cross four days later… makes you realise how cross I really was,” she said.

“It makes you realise what you put into it and what it means to you, and not just us, the staff.”

“There’s two people down there working their socks off with these horses every day, day in, day out, and it’s not fair on them, and it’s not fair on the owners, and … we get beat day in, day out. It happens, but… he didn’t just get a chance, you know. I mean, and as I say, it’s unfortunate.”

Just to confuse things even further, Haggas then admits Purton essentially got the tactics right – but gives him one great clip to finish it off.

“He did nothing wrong tactic-wise,” she said.

“He just was obviously thinking about the $20 million he’d won earlier in the day. But anyway, good luck to him. You know, it’s over now. It’s finished.”

“I probably went a bit over the top…”

Maureen Haggas reflects on her recent comments surrounding Zac Purton’s ride aboard Lake Forest in Australia… pic.twitter.com/hnNMuaOuCG

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 24, 2025