6f Betfair Sprint Cup Stakes (Group 1) (Class 1) (3yo+)
The Sprint Cup market has been blown wide-open with the absence of Ten Sovereigns and Advertise.
Khaadem has been installed into favourite at 3/1 and there is no doubt he’s a Group-level performer after trouncing the field in the Steward’s Cup at Glorious Goodwood. He won that off a lofty mark and he could put in a bold show if handling the conditions here at Haydock.
The Tin Man will need to reproduce the form he showed to win this last season when fending off the returning Brando, but the former has failed to sparkle this season. Brando does like it around here and he could be bang there if reproducing his form from Deauville in the Prix Maurice De Gheest last month – a race he has previously won.
Then there is the Kevin Ryan trained, Hello Youmzain, who I do like and should still be improving with only six starts behind him. He will appreciate the softer going and his latest third in the Commonwealth Cup reads as decent form.
Dream Of Dreams might also be capable of taking this wide-open renewal, but is much too short in the betting now at 5/1. He was well behind FAIRYLAND in the July Cup, who looks completely forgotten in the market at current odds of 11/1. Ryan Moore is apparently going to switch to the three-year-old filly now with Ten Sovereigns out and I think it’s still too soon to be writing-off this daughter of Kodiac. Unraced on slower than gd-sft, Fairyland has been racing in the highest company this season.
A Group 1 winner over six furlongs at two years of age, Fairyland has only encountered her favoured distance once in five starts this year. Those runs included admirable performances in both 1000 Guineas and a good effort in the 5f King’s Stand at Royal Ascot when finishing within three lengths to both Blue Point and Battaash.
Her only start over six furlongs was in the July Cup when finishing well in behind the two fancied non-runners. That performances reads as some of the best on offer this season amongst this collection of sprinters.
Fairyland’s last run on very fast ground over five furlongs in the Nunthorpe Stakes can be completely written-off. O’Brien said: “Fairyland was in the stalls for a long time at York and banged her head badly while in there. The whole side of her face was swollen and that obviously affected her performance.”
Her pedigree suggests Fairyland should get this ground and with her returning to her favoured trip, she might just have the ingredients to produce her best yet this season.
1pt each-way Fairyland @11/1, 16:10 Haydock, Saturday (1-3 places, 1/5 odds with William Hill)
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