Rod Millman is hoping Anthelia can provide him with a third winner of the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury on Saturday.
The daughter of Supremacy is already a Listed winner having won the National Stakes at Sandown in May but suffered a first career defeat in four starts when fifth in the Empress Stakes, upped to six furlongs last time.
The trainer told Tuesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “She’s probably the highest-rated horse we’ve run in the race up to now. We had Lord Kintyre back in 1997 and he was our first decent winner and if he hadn’t come along, I probably wouldn’t have been training much longer. He saved my career really. We’ve had other horses finish second and third and then Benny’s Hope won it so it’s been a very lucky race for us over the years.”
The trainer has no qualms about dropping his filly back to the minimum trip at the weekend.
“I think she definitely gets six but has won her races over five. I think she’s pretty versatile and she’ll probably revert to six after this race. We have her well entered up. She’s in the Harry’s Half Million at York after this and we’ll see how she goes before we decide whether to go back to Group races or head to the Redcar Two-Year-Old Trophy.”
Millman is happy to forgive his charge her defeat at Newmarket.
“I thought I got the tactics wrong. I thought a certain horse would make the running and told Lewis (Edmunds) to tuck in behind that one, but that horse took back in the field and we ended up too far back and flat-footed mid-race when they went down the hill.
“It wasn’t until the final furlong we stayed on again. Her last furlong was pretty strong, and we were giving all those horses three pounds, so I was disappointed but not crestfallen.”
Anthelia is currently second favourite behind Windsor Castle winner Havana Hurricane at the weekend with that Eve Johnson Houghton-trained rival also having the Molecomb at Goodwood as a potential target.
However, Millman is happy to take him on, adding: “I’m only a pound wrong with him on handicap ratings. Eve’s horse is very good but unfortunately there are lots of others in the race, it depends where you’re drawn, where the pace is, which horses you’re going to follow through. As you saw from Saturday in the July Cup, form doesn’t always win the race.”
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