Our columnist Richard Fahey reflects on his three wins in the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury - and some big-name horses who got beat there too.
Saturday’s Weatherbys Super Sprint has been a race we’ve been lucky in, winning it three times.
That said, we’ve had some good horses beaten in it too. Lily’s Angel and Mr Lupton both finished second down at Newbury and Ventura Rebel was fourth in 2018 – a year when we also had the second and third in Show Me Show Me and Mighty Spirit.
But we did hit the bullseye three times.
2013 - Peniaphobia
He was a bit naughty. I remember we ran him at Thirsk the time before Newbury and he was the 1/5 favourite. He tried to get out of winning that day – but just had his head in front at the line.
The best thing that happened to him was going to Hong Kong and being gelded. He was one of their top sprinters for a number of years.
He was always talented and the gelding operation was the key. He was a handful, always messing and playing around, taking us on, but he put his best foot forward at Newbury.
2015 - Lathom
He was disappointing after the Super Sprint and was never the same horse again really.
He had to dig very deep that day – beating Mr Lupton and Field Of Vision in a three-way photo finish and maybe he just emptied the tank. He tried so hard, galloped all the way to the line and came home very tired from it.
2017 - Bengali Boys
Another who was never as good again as he was at Newbury – in fact he never won another race.
It was desperate ground down there the afternoon he won and that probably really helped him. He was so impressive, winning by six lengths, with a horse of ours, Maggies Angel, sent off favourite and finishing third.
He might not have gone on from it but he was very good on Super Sprint day.
We’ll have runners again this year but I’m just worried we’re a little short of speed with our party. It looks like being very quick ground and you’ll need the pace to cope with it.
Dare To Hope would be our leading contender.
He won nicely on debut at Nottingham before disappointing when second at Ripon last month. That’s not every horse’s track, though, so I’m happy to forgive him. He’ll need to leave the form well behind at the weekend, mind.
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