Montassib and Mill Stream out to double their top-level tallies in QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes

Betfair Sprint Cup winner Montassib and the My Pension Expert July Cup victor Mill Stream head a star-studded field of Group 1 performers for the QIPCO British Champions Sprint. 

The 2022 winner Kinross, who is running here for a fourth time, and the 2023 winner Art Power, who beat Kinross a neck last year and will be making his fifth appearance in the race, are also present in a maximum field of 20. 

Montassib has been a revelation since dropping to six furlongs and trainer William Haggas, who also fields Unequal Love, third in the Haydock race, is hoping the six-year-old can find more improvement to confirm his head defeat of the reopposing Kind Of Blue. 

The Newmarket trainer said: “You could say he is still relatively unexposed at six furlongs as it took two years to drop him back to the trip. He has upped his game now we’ve got that right. He keeps pricking his ears when he gets to the front so you always think there is something left. We will find out, but he will do well to beat Kind Of Blue again. 

“Kind of Blue was on the speed at Haydock and maintained it. I think he will be hard to beat. Unequal Love ran a great race at Haydock but I’m concerned about the really soft ground for her. 

Karl Burke adds a talking point with three runners, a month after saddling the first three home from three runners in the Ayr Gold Cup. His trio of Elite Status, Swingalong and Spycatcher were all involved in the Betfred Sprint Cup, where Burke feels both a track and pace bias counted against them. All three are capable of better, and Spycatcher and Swingalong ran well in third and fourth here 12 months ago. 

The Middleham Moor trainer explained: “They were definitely on the wrong side of the track at Haydock. Swingalong went too fast on the slowest ground as well and Elite Status travelled best going to the final furlong but had again raced up with the pace. All of them are in great form but Elite Status would want drying ground.”

The Andrew Balding-trained Flora of Bermuda, who was a fast-finishing fifth in the Haydock race, is also reopposing. 

Shouldvebeenaring is having his racing swansong before joining the Irish National Stud’s stallion roster. Tom Palin, owner Middleham Park Racing’s manager, said: “We are going to try to get that Group 1 that he more than deserves. He’s been very unlucky and he has been a joy of a horse who gives his all. He will probably not get his ground but it’s a great game and strange things can happen.” 

Beauvatier, placed in three Group 1s this year, the latest a third in the seven-furlong Prix de la Foret at Longchamp earlier in the month, adds French flair, while Moss Tucker and Bucanero Fuerte are Group1 winners representing Ireland. 

Audience, who is something of an unknown quantity at this trip, is another Group 1 winner, having beaten Charyn over a mile in the Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes.