Haydock Saturday

Betfair Sprint Cup (Group 1)

THERE has been no outstanding sprinter this season, and the wide-open nature of the division was again demonstrated when 25/1 outsider Montassib (William Haggas/Cieren Fallon) finished well to get the better of Kind Of Blue (James Fanshawe/Danny Muscutt), with the winner’s stablemate Unequal Love (Danny Tudhope) finishing third. The distances were a head and three-quarters of a length.

In fairness to Montassib, he has now won five of his seven starts at six furlongs having done most of his racing until last autumn at seven furlongs/mile, and his big price was more a reflection of the belief that he needs more testing ground to show his best rather than any inherent lack of class.

Held up early, he made steady headway from halfway, and tackling the runner-up inside the final furlong before prevailing in a driving finish.

It was probably an advantage to race towards the centre, with nothing drawn in double figures in the 16-runner contest finishing in the first six places, which needs to be considered, but the first three have been progressive this season, and the result isn’t impossible to comprehend by any means.

Elite Status was one of a number to be disadvantaged by racing on the stands’ side, and can be forgiven the run, but Inisherin, in the same silks, was disappointing even with the excuse of a similar draw.

“I thought Unequal Love might run well but I wasn’t expecting Montassib to enjoy that ground,” said a delighted William Haggas to ITV. “We relied on Bucanero Fuerte going forward, which he did, and Unequal Love was always travelling well, whereas Cieren had to get after Montassib.

“On softer ground they come back to him and that would suit him better, but he’s the most genuine horse at home and Cieren always thinks there’s more to come.

“The Champions Sprint was always the race I was looking forward to. You would think the race would suit him, but he’ll now be one of the favourites and things are different when you’re expected to win.”

Fallon dedicated the win to his friend, jockey Stefano Cherchi who died aged 23 two weeks after being hurt in a fall at Canberra, Australia, in April.

Holloway breaks losing streak

He has proven very expensive to follow since making a winning debut at Royal Ascot as a juvenile, failing to score on his next dozen outings despite running close to that debut form, but Holloway Boy (Karl Burke/William Buick) finally repaid the faith when taking the Group 3 Superior Mile on Haydock’s Sprint Cup undercard.

Always handy, he was produced to lead a furlong out and had just enough in hand to repel the challenge of the gambled-on Prague (Dylan Cunha/Danny Tudhope) by half a length, with the reliable Witch Hunter (Richard Hannon/Sean Levey) just a head behind Prague in third.

The runner-up finished well having had an interrupted passage and was arguably unlucky not to win, but it would be churlish to begrudge Holloway Boy his win after a series of solid efforts in top handicaps this term.

Kempton Saturday

THE Andrew Balding-trained Kalpana (P.J. McDonald) was something of a public gamble into even-money in the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton.

She landed the money in some style, beating course and distance winner Lion’s Pride (John and Thady Gosden/Kieran Shoemark) by four and three-quarter lengths, with the runner-up’s stablemate God’s Window (Saffie Osborne) a further half-length back in third.

Overnight favourite and former winner Hamish was the drifter in the face of support for the winner, and for the second start in a row, he ran well below form, checking out rather tamely as he had in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket in July.

In a race run at just a moderate gallop, Kalpana was waited with before McDonald asked her to move through the gears early in the straight, and she impressed with how she answered her rider’s call, hitting the front over a furlong out and sprinting away to cover the last three furlongs in 34 seconds dead, which was over 1.5 seconds quicker than the juveniles over six furlongs in the opener.

The British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes now beckons for the daughter of Study Of Man, whose jockey feels is only now beginning to fulfil her talent.

“It was very smooth,” said McDonald. “The penny is starting to drop with her and she’s starting to learn. In her earlier races she was very consistent but just when races were developing, she was probably still a little bit weak, whereas now everything is coming together.

“I properly sat into her today, gave her a flick and made her go and stretch, and you could see the further she was going the better she was going.”

Keatley’s smart juvenile

Symbol Of Strength (Adrian Keatley/Tom Marquand) justified 5/2 favouritism in the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes on Saturday, paying a compliment to Cool Hoof Luke in the process.

The son of Kodiac produced an excellent effort to finish third to Cool Hoof Luke in the Gimcrack at York and this win proved there was no fluke about the result at York despite his 80/1 SP.

Vingegaard cut out a solid pace in the six-furlong contest, with Jouncy - equipped with a visor for the first time, also racing enthusiastically on the front.

Marquand was content to track that pair until asking his mount to quicken at the furlong pole, and Symbol Of Strength showed a willing attitude to get to the front well inside the final furlong, holding the renewed challenge of Jouncy (Andrew Balding/P.J. McDonald) by half a length. Brian (Sylvester Kirk/Liam Keniry) came from much further back, but was going on well at the finish, failing to take second by a head.

“It’s nice to get our first group race since we came over here,” said Keatley, who first shot to prominence when saddling Jet Setting to win the Irish 1000 Guineas in 2016. I was nervous watching and could tell he hated the surface. Tom Marquand said when he got there, he was having a look around and there was plenty left in the tank so it’s onwards and upwards. It will very much depend on the ground,” said the trainer when asked about future targets.

“He’s in the Mill Reef and Middle Park and all the doors are open. We’ll be looking closely at Newbury, but his form is up there with horses who are up the pecking order for the Middle Park. We’re entitled to be thinking about those races.”