No horse has ever won the same race twice on QIPCO British Champions Day but The Tin Man and Librisa Breeze, the past two winners of the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes, are on course to try and buck that trend.
The former heads the ante-post betting after chalking up a third win at the highest level in the 32Red Sprint Cup at Haydock last month, when he had Brando (second), Donjuan Triumphant (fourth), Sands Of Mali (fifth), Harry Angel (sixth), Speak In Colours (seventh), Tasleet (eighth) and Sir Dancealot (ninth) behind.
Harry Angel was named as the best sprinter in the world at the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings in January, having won the 32Red Sprint Cup and Darley July Cup in 2017, and all his powers looked intact when he gave weight and a beating to the race-fit Brando on his return in the Group 2 Duke Of York Clipper Logistics Stakes at York in May.
However, things have subsequently not gone to script. He got his leg caught on the frame of the stalls when below-par in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, injuring himself in the process, and then faded to finish sixth when defending his Sprint Cup crown at Haydock.
Librisa Breeze has yet to reproduce his best this season but returns to the scene of his finest hour. Tasleet (second), Harry Angel (fourth), The Tin Man (fifth), Brando (sixth) and Donjuan Triumphant (eighth) all played supporting roles behind him in last year’s renewal.
Bacchus, the Wokingham winner, and Projection, owned by The Royal Ascot Racing Club, also stand their ground. The Fozzy Stack-trained four-year-old Son Of Rest, who dead-heated for first in a dramatic Ayr Gold Cup, has been supplemented.
