Haydock Saturday

Betfair Sprint Cup (Group 1)

WITH hot favourite Shaquille running a lifeless race, it was left to Regional (Ed Bethell/Callum Rodriguez) to lift the Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock, giving both trainer and rider a first win at the top level.

The 10/1 chance was followed home by outsiders Shouldvebeenaring (Richard Hannon/Sean Levey) and Believing (George Boughey/Jason Hart) in a race which left plenty scratching their heads.

Shaquille was quickly into stride for a change but having overcome positional biases - and an inherent tendency to over-race - to win the Commonwealth and July Cups in the summer, he ran a mystifying race to go from leading and travelling well to floundering in a matter of strides and ended up finish last of all.

Connections could offer no explanation for the poor run, but he’s certainly not the only runner from the Camacho yard to disappoint of late, with stablemate Look Out Louis also finishing dead last in the following handicap, a race he had won 12 months earlier.

Always up with the pace, Regional travelled strongly under wraps and went on as the favourite weakened but was all out inside the final furlong and had to hang on grimly to win by a neck and half a length.

He has done most of his racing over the minimum trip but was taken off his feet before staying on into fifth in the Nunthorpe, and this return to a fast six furlongs was justified as he made his breakthrough at Group 1 level.

Over the moon

“I’m just over the moon,” said a clearly emotional Bethell after the race. “I’m in an incredibly fortunate position, to take over from my father, and my parents have been big supporters of mine.

“A huge ‘thank you’ has to go to Barbara Jones, who rides this horse every day – she doesn’t go on holiday because she wants to make sure he’s in tip-top form. She’s the important one here, along with the rest of my team at home. I’m just the lucky one to have my name on the ticket.

“We bought this horse just to win a race and he’s taken these guys [Future Champions Racing] on a tremendous ride. This meteoric rise is down to the team at home, and we’ve just been incredibly fortunate.

“I don’t know where we’ll go next, the owners might want to go to America, but I’ll just see how the horse is first and make a decision.”

THE day at Haydock started with the Group 3 Superior Mile, and the drop in class was just the ticket for Chindit (Richard Hannon/James Doyle), who bounced back to winning ways to score by two and a a quarter lengths from market leader Light Infantry (David Simcock/Jamie Spencer), who was held up amongst horses as the winner got first run, but could not be described as an unlucky loser given the margin of victory.

Chindit, sent off at 5/2, was maintaining a remarkable record, as he has now won all six of his starts at up to Group 3 level.

Largely kept in the best company, he can have his limitations shown up by the best but is a very smart performer on good or quicker ground and is likely to prove a sound purchase as a prospective stallion for Cyrus Poonawalla’s Greenfield Farms operation. Stud duties in India beckon soon, but entries in the Fortune Stakes at Sandown and the Joel Stakes at Newmarket later in the month suggest he’s not entirely done with racing yet.

Kempton Saturday

THE 2022 Champion Stakes hero Bay Bridge (Sir Michael Stoute/Richard Kingscote) failed to fire when racing freely in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, but given a break and dropped in class, he proved a class above his rivals in the Group 3 September Stakes, winning by three and three-quarter lengths from Candleford (William Haggas/Pat Dobbs), who in turn had a couple of lengths in hand of Max Vega (Ralph Beckett/Hector Crouch) in third. Held up on his first try over the mile and a half trip, Bay Bridge was produced to lead over a furlong out, and soon cut his opposition down to size.

This win opens up new avenues for the 8/11 winner, who is in the Champion Stakes again, but also holds an entry in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in early October, and that race will come under consideration now that he’s proven his stamina for the distance.

Asked about the horse’s best trip, Stoute replied: “We were unsure, so we’ve ticked that box and that’s a real big plus. He was very impressive, and I liked the way he did it. We can go a mile and a half on that evidence, so we’ve got options and we don’t have to make our minds up yet. I think he just needs the ground good and no faster, but it doesn’t have to be soft.”

Sirenia to Starlust

Ralph Beckett has his team in fine form, and he landed another nice pot when Starlust (Hector Crouch) stepped up from nurseries to land the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes in a tight finish, beating Seven Questions (George Scott/Callum Shepherd) and Array (Andrew Balding/P J McDonald) by a head and half a length.

The son of Zoustar was returned at an SP of 2/1 and was paying a compliment to Zoulu Chief, who beat him in a York nursery. That form was also franked when York third Room Service ran out a commanding winner of the big sales race at Doncaster on Thursday.

Starlust is entered in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury on Saturday week. Beckett is concerned that the race may come too soon but it is under consideration.

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