PALMER THREE-HANDED AS HE BIDS FOR A FIRST GROUP 1 FROM HIS NEW BASE IN BETFAIR SPRINT CUP STAKES

Hugo Palmer will saddle three live chances when he bids for a first Group 1 success from Manor House Stables in an open-looking Betfair Sprint Cup Stakes at Haydock Park Racecourse on Saturday.

The Group 1 is the last sprint in the 35-race QIPCO British Champions Series before the QIPCO British Champions Sprint at Ascot on QIPCO British Champions Day on October 15 and it has attracted a maximum field of 17. However, while the race is highly competitive, the only previous Group 1 winners are last year’s winner Emaraaty Ana and Naval Crown, so the prize is very much up for grabs.

Palmer enjoyed Classic success with Covert Love and Galileo Gold from his former stables in Newmarket but in March he moved to Cheshire to train from the impressive base co-owned by former footballer Michael Owen and previously occupied by Tom Dascombe. He has made a good start there, but he wants to do much better.

Brad The Brief, who was among those Palmer inherited from Dascombe, provided a first stakes race win from the new base when winning the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes at The Curragh in May, while Dubawi Legend, who was with him at Newmarket, landed a Group 3 at Baden-Baden last weekend. Flaming Rib, his third runner and part-owned by Owen, went close in a Group 1 at Royal Ascot, finding only Perfect Power too good in the Commonwealth Cup.

Palmer said: “It will be very special when we get a first Group 1 from Manor House, after a Group 2 winner and a Group 1 second, and I’m really looking forward to running all three of them. If it rains I suspect that Brad The Brief has the best chance, but the other two are entries in a stallion-making race, so any one of the three would be wonderful.

“People say we’ve had a good start here, but you always want to do better and I tend to agonise over the races we haven’t won. Whatever we’ve achieved, I hope there’s an awful lot more to come this autumn.”

“People say we’ve had a good start here, but you always want to do better and I tend to agonise over the races we haven’t won. Whatever we’ve achieved, I hope there’s an awful lot more to come this autumn.”

Running through the chances of his trio individually, Palmer said: “It’s been a frustrating summer for any horse wanting decent ground, and looking back I’m over the moon that we found two good opportunities for Brad The Brief and that he won both times. It was very quick ground when we were considering the Maurice De Gheest, and then he was a non-runner after being declared for the City Of York. 

“It looks as if there’s a fair chance he’s going to get some ground on Saturday, as Kirkland (Tellwright, clerk of the course) told me there might be 2-4mm on Friday and another 8-10mm on Saturday. He doesn’t need it soft – there was no real cut in it at The Curragh – but he doesn’t want fast ground, and having waited so long I wouldn’t want to go and jar him up out of frustration.

“Dubai Legend is amazing. He was very happy and fresh when we gave him a quiet canter on Wednesday morning, and although it’s a big leap from a German Group 3 we are keen to give it a go.

“Flaming Rib is ground versatile, so the weather holds no fears. We were very disappointed after the July Cup, having supplemented, but he was drawn away from the action and it’s not as if he finished out with the washing. This has been the target really since then, and he’s right back to himself now, although it’s taken a little while.”

Could Emaraaty Ana Make History?

While Palmer will be glad to see a bit of rain, Andrea Atzeni hopes that Haydock Park misses it, in which case Emaraaty Ana will have a good chance of becoming the first horse in more than 50 years to win the Sprint Cup twice, following Be Friendly in 1966 and 1967.

Atzeni, who didn’t ride the Kevin Ryan-trained six-year-old when he was a strong-finishing third behind Highfield Princess in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (Khaadem just behind him), said: “He likes a strong pace to run at, which he should get once again, but the major key to him is the ground. We got lucky last year as it was very fast, which is just how he likes it, so ideally we don’t want too much rain.

“I did say to Kevin earlier this year that I thought he might come good in the autumn again, and he’s going to Haydock with a very similar profile to last year. Both times he’s run well in the July Cup and then been placed in the Nunthorpe, doing his best work at the end. He looked at York very much as if he was ready to go back to six furlongs.”

Assistant trainer Adam Ryan, who will also saddle outsider Hala Hala Athmani, a three-year-old half-sister to the stable’s 2019 Sprint Cup winner Hello Youmzain, confirmed that the race has been Emaraaty Ana’s main target all year.

He said: “This has always been the plan as Emaraaty Ana comes alive at this time of year. He goes to Haydock in fine order and it would be great if he was the first dual winner in all those years.”

Charlie Appleby saddles Platinum Jubilee Stakes winner Naval Crown, another who is regarded by connections as a quick ground specialist. The four-year-old went on to chase home Alcohol Free in the July Cup but then disappointed at Deauville. He is the highest-rated runner in the field and will have a major chance if the ground stays on the quick side.

Minzaal was down the field in the Platinum Jubilee but turned the tables on Naval Crown when second at Deauville. In between he beat subsequent Curragh Group 3 winner Go Bears Go in the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury, where Dubawi Legend and dual Wokingham winner Rohaan filled the frame and Chil Chil and Great Ambassador finished further back.

“We tried something at Royal Ascot in putting the cheekpieces on and trying to ride him more prominently, but it didn’t pay off,” explained trainer Owen Burrows to the Jockey Club Racecourses media team. “He then went and won the Hackwood before finishing second in France behind an exceptional filly in Highfield Princess.

“It would be great if he could get his head in front in a Group 1 as he’s been placed at that level at two, three and four.”

Ralph Beckett has Longchamp’s Prix de la Foret as the next main target for last month’s City Of York Stakes winner Kinross. The five-year-old’s biggest wins have all been at seven furlongs and he has failed to shine in previous Group 1 attempts over shorter distances, but the betting suggests Frankie Dettori’s mount is by no means out of it.

Beckett said: “There’s no seven-furlong race before the Foret and he’s in good shape, so we are inclined to run for that reason. It’s possible he might be going forward, as the ratings suggest it was a career best when he beat Pogo at York. We’ll see.”

Also running is Clive Cox’s Harry Three, who was in great form until finishing down the field at Deauville last time and represents the stable which won with Harry Angel in 2017 and Art Power, who set a fast pace before fading into fifth in last year’s race. The field is completed by Irish challenger Castle Star, who has raced only once since last year’s Group 1 second in the Middle Park Stakes; and Richard Fahey’s Newmarket Listed winner Umm Kulthum.