Harry Angel set to land historic Sprint double
IN THE November 4, 1967 edition of the Irish Independent, the ‘Capt. Keen’ racing column tipped the three-year-old Be Friendly in the Vernon’s November Sprint Cup, a horse owned at the time by the late great racing commentator Peter O’Sullevan.
It was the second running of the race, and Be Friendly was ultimately successful in doing a double, having won the inaugural 1966 contest. The race, which takes place today as the Group One 32Red Sprint Cup (4.15 Haydock), was then worth £4,200 to the winner.
Considering a pint of Guinness back then was 2/6 in old money, or 12 anda-half pence in decimal, those following the Indo’s tips that day would certainly have earned the price of a few jars with distinguished racing correspondent Richard Baerlein also giving Be Friendly the nod.
The Sprint Cup is now worth more than £184,000 (€206,000) and has, of course, been moved to September – but Be Friendly still remains the only horse to land consecutive wins.
Fifty-one years on, I’m hoping to emulate my Irish Independent predecessors by tipping a horse to do the double, although, admittedly, last year’s winner Harry Angel is not a very original pick at a price of 5/4 or thereabouts.
This horse owes me a favour, as I lost a small fortune backing him in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot last time in which he finished second-last, but a line can be drawn through that run as he got upset in the stalls and managed to find his leg caught up.
Cox reckons he is back to his best and may even be stronger than last year, describing his work as ‘impeccable’
He finished the race with a wound on one of his fetlock joints, and had to miss the July Cup soon after. His trainer Clive Cox has been doing some stall work with him at home and says he hopes they have left no stone unturned in his preparation for today’s double attempt.
The ground was soft when he won this race in good style last year so I’ve no worries on that front, and Cox reckons he is back to his best and may even be stronger than last year, describing his work as “impeccable”.
William Haggas’s Tasleet was second in this last year and has claims on this softer ground, although his effort on his seasonal debut was laboured when third in a Group Two at the Curragh in May.
James Fanshawe’s The Tin Man was third in 2017 and should be thereabouts once again, but he’d prefer faster ground and I suspect he’ll have to settle for some place money.
In the opening Read Luke Morris Blog at Unibet Handicap (1.50), I’m quite keen on Natural History, which was trading around 4/1 yesterday.
Andrew Balding’s colt is up 11lbs to 90 following success on his handicap debut at Chepstow last time, but he’s the type that has improvement to come so that rise may not be too harsh.
Ben Vrackie is also quite talented and won’t be far off but the son of Frankel is top-weight here with a rating of 104, making his early odds of 7/2 seem a little skinny.
At Kempton Park, Konchek gets the nod for the aforementioned Clive Cox in the Group Three 188Bet Casino Sirenia Stakes (4.25). This is his first time running on the all-weather, but if he can transfer his turf form to the artificial surface, he’ll be hard to beat having finished second to Advertise in a Group Two at Newmarket.
That horse has since gone on to Group One success, and I’m happy to take the 7/4 about Konchek which was available yesterday evening.
Back at Haydock, Here Comes When is decent value around 5/1 for the Group
Three Unibet Mile (2.25).