Candy hopeful of overturning Shaquille in Betfair Sprint Cup

Shaquille is understandably odds on for his third Group 1 win of the summer in Saturday’s Betfair Sprint Cup, but Julie Camacho’s three-year-old powerhouse is far from straightforward and so there is hope for connections of his 16 opponents, among them Henry Candy.

Candy saddles Run To Freedom, who chased Shaquille home in the Pertemps Network July Cup, in this QIPCO British Champions Series event. He is under no illusions, but if there was ever a race for him to get lucky in it is the Sprint Cup, which he won with Markab in 2010 and also with Run To Freedom’s half-brother Twilight Son five years later, and in which he was also third with another half-brother Music Master. 

He describes Shaquille as “exceptional”, but he agrees that the Sprint Cup has been good to him and he is “desperate” to get a Group 1 win out of Run To Freedom, second also in last year’s QIPCO British Champions Sprint at Ascot.

Candy made his name with top-class middle-distance runners like Master Willie and Time Charter but he is nowadays much more closely associated with sprinters, thanks also to Group 1 winners Airwave, Kyllachy and Limato and a very strong supporting cast. He denies there is any mystery behind his apparent change of tack, but his views are always worth listening to.

He said: “I don’t know why people think there’s such an enormous difference. You train what you get and these days I think everybody realises that all you have to do is get a horse fit and then the genes will do the rest regarding what trip it gets. The day Martin Pipe trained a Grand National winner off a five-furlong all-weather gallop made me realise that maybe training for distances was not quite as important as one used to think.”

Reflecting on his previous success in the Sprint Cup and his hopes for Saturday he said: “Twilight Son was unbeaten when he went to Haydock, having quickly gone through the handicap ranks. He was quite a surprise to me when he won, having won a handicap at York (off 94) the time before, but his jockey Fergus Sweeney was very confident and he was dead right.

“Markab also worked his way up through handicaps, having won the Great St Wilfrid the year before.”

Candy added: “I think this is a slightly stronger renewal and Run To Freedom can’t beat Shaquille, who is exceptional, but I’ll keep trying to win a Group 1 with him. He’s from that fantastic family of Godfrey Wilson’s, which has served us so well, and I’m desperate to win one in order to make him a stallion. 

“I’m just a little bit worried about the drying ground, but we’ll give it a go and see how we get on. He’s won on good to firm, but he prefers a little cut and Ascot next month might suit him better.”

Shaquille was extremely hard to handle as a two-year-old and still has his share of quirks, including a tendency to start alarmingly slowly and then pull hard, so it is a measure of his huge raw talent that he has won his two Group 1s despite doing so much wrong – with Swingalong, Rumstar, Shouldvebeenaring and two-year-old Group 1 winner Lezoo among those behind in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and Khaadem well held at Newmarket.

James Doyle, on board Shaquille for wins at Newmarket and Newbury in the spring but required by Godolphin on the Group 1-winning days, is back in the saddle and he is itching to get back on board the Jekyll and Hyde character, who he said is “a complete puppydog at home” yet on the track becomes “a big boisterous sprinter who knows he’s quick”. 

However, while he acknowledged that “Shaquille certainly has the potential to be the best sprinter I have ridden”, he is very mindful of the issues at the start, which he hopes have been addressed with some minor adjustments at home, and points out that Run To Freedom will be 4lb better off owing to the reduced weight-for-age allowance.

“It just doesn’t happen, does it?” he said. “I can’t think of a time when I’ve seen a horse miss the break by what must have been five lengths at Ascot and probably the same in the July Cup – it just doesn’t happen. In a sprint once you have that sort of start you are normally out of the game so it shows what an engine he has.

“Going into Saturday, the weight for age is catching up with us – he got 6lb off the older horses in the July Cup and that is now down to 2lb, so that does tighten things up. You pray that we can jump off and get a clean start.”

Rossa Ryan had the privilege of stepping in for the ride on Shaquille at Newmarket, and this time he is on Lezoo for Ralph Beckett.

Ryan summed up what many will be thinking when he said: “On form and on paper I think Shaquille has only to beat Shaquille, that’s the long and short of it. If the true Shaquille turns up we are all going to struggle to get near to him. He’s a freak.”

However, Ryan is by no means without hope and added: “Bar the favourite it’s an open race and I’m looking forward to riding Lezoo. The yard’s in top form and she was back to form when getting her head in front at Newmarket last time. She’s a Cheveley Park winner and she’s back on the right road. She felt great when I sat on her on Tuesday morning.”

Jamie Spencer had a rear view of Shaquille at Newmarket from his shock Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes winner Khaadem. The Charlie Hills-trained seven-year-old was unplaced in the Nunthorpe at York last time, but Spencer believes he has a big chance of a place here at least.

He said: “Shaquille will be a formidable opponent as he seems to be able to win whatever happens. He’s probably still improving, but in the big field on fast ground I’d expect Khaadem to be in the first four. Highfield Princess took us all out of our comfort zone at York, and I never got a chance to fill Khaadem up, but he stayed on really well and felt equally as good as he did at Royal Ascot.”

Tom Marquand rides Sacred, who got within a neck of Khaadem at Royal Ascot. He said: “For whatever reason her two runs as a mature horse at York have been below form, but if you go back to her run before at Ascot she was second in a Group 1 sprint and that form all lines up. Fast ground suits and it should be a similar scenario here. 

“Shaquille is obviously very talented, but he wouldn’t have to do much more wrong than he has before in order to make it too hard to win a race like this.”

With Hollie Doyle in Ireland Luke Morris has come in for the ride on Wokingham winner Saint Lawrence for Archie Watson. He is looking forward to it and said: “He’s shown a lot of ability since he joined Archie and he ran very well in France when a close third behind King Gold and Spycatcher. He’s very versatile, but I think the Haydock ground will be similar to when he won at Royal Ascot and that will suit him. He likes a bit of cover but he has a massive engine and I think he’s got a big chance.”

Spycatcher is one of two representatives of Highclere Thoroughbreds, who won this with Tamarisk 25 years ago and also run the improving George Boughey-trained three-year-old Believing.

Connections of Mill Stream have paid a £20,000 supplementary entry fee, encouraged by his recent Group 3 defeat of Garrus in the Prix de Meautry at Deauville and conscious of the lack of top level alternatives between now and QIPCO British Champions Day.

His owner Peter Harris, who made his fortune in the leisure industry and is reportedly a billionaire, trained until 2004 and enjoyed Group 1 success with Primo Valentino.

A maximum field of 17 is completed by Aidan O’Brien’s 2022 Middle Park second The Antarctic, as well as King’s Stand Stakes third Annaf, Nunthorpe fifth Regional, and dual Wokingham winner Rohaan.