Markab hits top speed in the Sprint Cup
Markab broke the track record to win the Group One Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock Park.
Starspangledbanner, who was flying for Aidan O’Brien during the summer, was beaten for the second time in successive races as he came fifth. The Choisir colt had looked to be one of the stars of the season when he won both the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and the July Cup at Newmarket but he was brought from the stratosphere when he finished second to rank outsider Sole Power in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York last month.
He still was favourite to complete a unique six-furlong treble in the Sprint Cup, but faced stiff opposition from among others Regal Parade, who was attempting to become the first horse to win successive renewals of the race since Be Friendly won the first two runnings in 1966-67.
However none of them could live with Markab, trained by Henry Candy and ridden by Pat Cosgrave, who was winning his first Group One race on his 30th career start.
Colm O'Donoghue had Starspangledbanner leading the group who raced on the far side, while Markab was prominent of those who were in the nearside group. But the writing was on the wall for Starspangledbanner when he was caught by Lady Of The Desert but neither had any response to Markab who, despite drifting into the centre of the track, had too many guns as he beat Lady Of The Desert by one-and-quarter lengths, with Genki in third.
O’Brien, watching at Leopardstown, may have been half expecting the end of the line to come for a colt who had shipped to his yard having already had a racing programme in his native Australia. “He is only flesh and blood and he had a season before he came to us. It was a chance to take by going there. He had a very tough race at York – he didn’t have much time in between – so we didn’t really know how well he was because we didn’t get to do anything with him. Obviously the York race left a little bit of a mark on him.
“We let him take his chance, which wasn’t the right thing to do with the benefit of hindsight, but he will come back because he’s tough.”
The benefit of hindsight pointed out that Markab had been threatening to win a really big race and Candy said: “He’s a happy horse who just seems to get bigger and stronger and now we’ll go to Paris [for the Prix de l’Abbaye].”
By comparison to Markab, Cityscape is a horse whose talent has yet to be matched by his performances on the track. He was rated a lively outsider for last year’s 2000 Guineas but trailed in 23 lengths behind Sea The Stars and was not seen out again until this season, where a promising run in a handicap at Newbury in April then led to an exasperating second in a Listed race at Ascot two weeks later.
Roger Charlton has had to be patient and may be ready to claim the reward after Cityscape won the Listed Betfred "Goals Galore" Superior Mile, with the trainer now considering a crack at the Cambridgeshire.
Dancing David and Ordnance Row set the early pace but Steve Drowne was always travelling on Cityscape, who came through with his powerful stride to beat Godolphin’s Secrecy by one-and-a-quarter lengths. “He just lost his way a little bit in the spring time,” Drowne said. “He’s a horse who I think the ground is quite important and it was ideal for him today. It was a warm old Listed race. Really nice gallop, it looked to me like everything had its chance so he’s the best horse on the day. We were hoping for a good run, I think he’ll improve again. He hasn’t run for a long time – hopefully we can get him going now. He was a far horse as a two-year-old, he got injured as a three-year-old, and early on he did disappoint us a little bit but he’s back to his best now.”
The best may yet to be come from Kansai Spirit, trained by John Gosden and ridden by William Buick, who made it three wins from his last three starts in the Betfred Kingspin Old Borough Cup.
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