Hurry-up Harry’s sweet revenge
CARA SEEN OFF IN CUP
ADAM KIRBY was once bitten, twice shy as Harry Angel settled a score to win the Darley July Cup at Newmarket.
Caravaggio had overpowered the Godolphin three-year-old in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last month – and punters sent Aidan O’Brien’s colt off the 10-11 favourite to defend his unbeaten record.
But Kirby left the royal heath convinced Caravaggio’s stablemate Intelligence Cross, by pestering his mount at the head of affairs during the early stages, had rendered Harry Angel vulnerable to a late coup de grâce.
Yesterday the pair sat second as Intelligence Cross went into the firing line from the stalls before 9-2 chance Harry Angel pounced a furlong-and-a-half from home to beat last year’s winner Limato by a length-and-a-quarter and give Godolphin founder Sheikh Mohammed a 68th birthday gift.
Brando took third at 28-1, with Caravaggio a flat fourth.
“He’d have won last time, without a shadow of a doubt, but we were a little bit unfortunate with the way the race turned out,” reasoned Kirby.
“I came back saying I should have won, and it was at the bottom of my heart that, today, he’d show them the way it was.
“The race couldn’t have gone any better – he quickened and showed how good he really is.”
Harry Angel’s trainer Clive Cox, winner of the race with the Kirby- ridden Lethal Force in 2013, added: “He’s a special horse – we always hoped he was Group 1 material, and he is.” Cox, who will now prepare Harry Angel for the 32Red Sprint Cup at Haydock Park on September 9, added: “Although he was beaten at Ascot and Adam was disappointed, the look in the horse’s eye when he came off the track – it was like, ‘OK guys, I’m getting this.’ “Coming here today, I was very confident.” O’Brien and Caravaggio’s rider Ryan Moore enjoyed better fortune – eventually – in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes as 5-6 market leader Gustav Klimt overcame a troubled passage to reel in Nebo by a head and earn a quote of 5-1 favourite for next year’s 2000 Guineas.