Betfair Sprint Cup: David Ord preview

It’s been a few years since I last went to Haydock for the Betfair Sprint Cup.

In fact it might have been sponsored by Vernons when I last did. Kids ask your dad.

But I’m looking forward to being there on Saturday for what looks sure to be a competitive renewal and given the current state of the sprint division, anything within cooee on ratings should have a dart at it.

And they are. 22 in at the moment, 19 jocked up with Weatherbys. Yes. I’m looking forward to this.

So, given that absolutely no-one else has shown any interest in my opinion on the big race, I’ve decided to ask myself some of the burning questions going into it.

What’s the ground likely to be?

Pass, ask me a music one. Well at the moment it’s good after 9.4mm of rain in the last week, 1.2mm of which fell on Monday.

The weather forecast, both in good old Blighty and Norway, is pointing towards showers on Wednesday and Thursday, the Norwegians saying maybe as much as 9 mills on Wednesday. The home team don’t think so. I’d give the deciding vote to John Kettley but don’t have his number.

Then we’re set fair through to race time. So it might ease slightly, if it’s Norway 1, England 0 maybe a bit more, but don’t be hunting around for mudlarks at this stage.

Where do you want to be drawn?

2024 (Timeform going description: Good)

1 – stall 2
2 – stall 5
3 – stall 6
4 – stall 4
5 – stall 8

2023 – Good to firm

1 – stall 13
2 – stall 10
3 – stall 17
4 – stall 18
5 – stall 8

2022 – Firm

1 – stall 7
2 – stall 13
3 – stall 11
4 – stall 8
5 – stall 16

2021 – Firm

1 – stall 6
2 – stall 10
3 – stall 11
4 – stall 9
5 – stall 2

2020 – Soft

1 – stall 11
2 – stall 9
3 – stall 6
4 – stall 10
5 – stall 12

Well the first point to make is that after two days on the inside track on the straight course at Haydock, we switch to the outside on Saturday. That’s a potential gamechanger.

But as the above data would suggest, just about anywhere would be the general answer to the original question. Last year they raced down the centre and the first six were all drawn in single figures whereas in Regional’s Sprint Cup of 2023, the first four were spread right across the track, Swingalong in fourth racing solo by the stands’ rail for a long way from stall 18.

Firm ground in 2022 and they initially drifted to the far side but Minzaal blew the race apart under Jim Crowley, bursting through down the centre of the track inside the final furlong.

Timeform had the ground as firm for Emaraaty Ana’s 2021 win in which Art Power scorched along early but the winner, down the centre of the track, had his measure close home although Starman would have been in front in another stride on the same patch of Haydock turf.

If the Norwegians are right and it does come up soft on Saturday, well the 2020 renewal is the last one to be run on that surface. It was a race in which several of the better-fancied horses, including winner Dream Of Dreams, raced stands’ side as they split into two distinct groups.

Art Power was their hare once again and while the winner and runner-up Glen Shiel (from nine) came from that party, they did drift left towards Golden Horde (six) who led the others a merry dance and held on for third.

So, the answer is you probably don’t want to be bang on either flank but the the winners have come from two to 13 in the last five years, most challenging down the centre of the track.

Does that help? I thought not.

Who’s going to run?

Plenty. A few have other options at the Curragh next week, Time For Sandals, Whistlejacket and Big Mojo are among the leading fancies for the Flying Five at the Curragh for example.

Indeed Whistlejacket was named for the Curragh on the pristine A4 sheet of paper that Aidan O’Brien handed out to the massed ranks of media at Monday’s Irish Champions Weekend press morning.

It wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that they could run in both though. Harry Eustace has warned he will take Time For Sandals to Ireland if it comes up very soft at Haydock. Harry, it might be softer still in Ireland. Did you see Fran Berry and Kevin O’Ryan at Roscommon on Monday? And Kieran Shoemark is booked to ride her on Saturday. If the British forecasters are correct, she should be fine kept to home soil.

William Buick is slated in to partner Big Mojo. In fact of the 22 horses in at the moment, only Art Power, Whistlejacket and Celandine don’t have a rider currently booked.

The Shadwell team are pondering whether to pitch Almeraq in at the deep end or wait 24 hours for a Listed race at York. Another group who are on weather watch.

Is Lazzat the right favourite?

On his win in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot he has to be. The French raider is five pounds clear on Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings and istill unexposed as a sprinter having only had four runs at trips shorter than seven furlongs.

But he wasn’t quite as good when brushed aside by Sajir in Prix Maurice de Gheest and dual Group One-winning sprinters in Europe have been a very rare breed indeed in recent years.

Ascot Lazzat wins this. Deauville Lazzat is vulnerable. And at 2/1 he’s not for me.

Who’s the pick of the three-year-olds?

They’re certainly well represented. If she runs Time For Sandals has to be towards the top of the shortlist. The form of her Commonwealth Cup victory is working out and she did well under a penalty, dropped back to a quick five, at Goodwood last time.

She’s bang in the mix, the thriving Sky Majesty needs to come forward again but could and Sayidah Daryan will be better back over six after fluffing the start when sitting a speed test in the Nunthorpe last time.

Ain’t Nobody belied odds of 100/1 to finish second to Asfoora at York that day but needs to prove it wasn’t a fluke, the jury is certainly out given he earned an adjusted Timeform rating of 124 for that performance, his previous five had been 106, 71, 109 and 107.

Big Mojo is a horse I’ve always liked and Buick is an interesting booking but the intriguing representative here for the Classic generation would be Almeraq. In good hands, he’s only raced four times and took his form to a new level when storming five lengths clear of Badri in an Ayr handicap last time.

Yes it was a Class 3, 0-90. Yes he was only rated 90 going into it. But the way he put the contest to bed marked him out as a sprinter going places and there aren’t too many of those walking around in Britain or Ireland at the moment. Go on Mr Haggas, borrow Johnny G’s big dice.

Who are the big players among the older brigade?

Well bar Lazzat you have to respect July Cup winner No Half Measures. She may have been a 66/1 chance that day but had hinted she was building towards a performance like that when second to Balmoral Lady in the Achilles’ Stakes over five furlongs here in the spring.

Kind Of Blue has been slowly finding his form this season and was beginning to look match-fit when third in the Phoenix Sprint at the Curragh last time. He was second in this race last season and looks solid.

The same can’t be said of Inisherin who was sent off 5/2 favourite when bombing out in the 2024 Sprint Cup. He’s become very hit and miss, well miss and hit, and seemed to sulk his way through the Prix Maurice de Gheest last time.

He has the ability to shake them all up but whether the appetite to do so is still there, we’ll find out on Saturday.

So where does that leave us?

Well I have two against the field at this stage.

I think both FLORA OF BERMUDA and BEAUVATIER are overpriced.

You can get 16/1 about the former who was fifth in the race last season after meeting with trouble in running. She’s built up a strong CV since too, finishing a close third behind Kind Of Blue in the QIPCO Champions Sprint in the autumn, second to Inisherin in the Duke Of York Clipper Stakes and third behind Lazzat at Ascot.

It didn’t happen for her in the July Cup last time, having reared in the stalls and being very slowly away, but she was only 13/2 that day and it’s worth noting that all of her wins to date have been on ground softer than good and there’s a chance she could get that for the first time in 2025 at the weekend, well if the Norwegian soothsayers are on the money.

PJ McDonald is booked to ride.

There’s plenty of 20/1 about for Beauvatier which underestimates him. Yes he has to bounce back from a rare off-day in the Prix Maurice de Gheest but his Champions Sprint fourth and Foret third in the autumn put him in the thick of this and Christophe Soumillon rides. He’s an established Group One sprinter and given the crap shoot that these top level sprints are right now, worthy of his place in the line-up.

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