Back Temple Meads in Super Sprint
Many people pick six numbers on a Saturday hoping to hit the jackpot. However, for Richard Hannon it is not the National Lottery that has his attention.
Hannon has won the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury four times in the last seven years, seven times in all since it was first run in 1991 and the trainer saddles six of the 25 runners in this year’s race.
The pick of his runners, by Hannon’s own admission, appears to be Reckless Reward, who finished runner-up to Approve in the Group Two Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot last month. However, the conditions of this race mean that Reckless Reward has to concede weight to most of the field.
The Super Sprint is restricted to horses sold as yearlings by public auction for 48,000gns or less. The weights carried are determined by the sale price of the horses, with 1lb deducted for each 3,000gns below 48,000gns to a minimum weight of 7st 12lb.
At just £16,000, when he was bought as a yearling, Ed McMahon's Temple Meads (pictured) gets into the race on just 8st 6lb – receiving 8lbs from Reckless Reward. He was an impressive winner of his only start so far in a five-furlong maiden at the Guineas meeting at Newmarket in May, from which the third, fourth and fifth have all won since.
And his entry for next month’s Gimcrack Stakes at York suggests that this could be a stepping stone to bigger things.
The Group Three Shadwell Hackwood Stakes brings together a field of nine, many of whom have been running in much higher company. Markab’s one-and-a-half-length second to Equiano in the Group One King’s Stand Stakes at the royal meeting is good form but he must concede 4lbs to High Standing, who won this race last year and is much better than his poor showing in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, while the best of First City’s form may just make her well weighted for the Bathwick Tyres EBF Fillies’ Handicap.
The Listed Plantation Stud Aphrodite Stakes at Newmarket, Three Moons, who was quietly fancied for last year’s Oaks until suffering a pelvic injury, could yet prove that those hopes were not groundless.
The Flat season may take precedence at this stage of the year but there is a valuable jumps card at Market Rasen, the feature of which is the totesport.com Summer Plate Handicap Chase and Tempsford, a course and distance winner last month, still looks one who could be on the upgrade.
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