Spring Is Sprung picked up a whopping £100,000 Sky Bet Sunday Series bonus after becoming the first horse of the season to win three races at the meetings.
Having followed success at Newmarket on May 18 with a similarly tenacious all-the-way victory at Chelmsford on June 1, Paul Midgley's charge was back from a break and kept the superb run going in the Sky Bet Extra Places Handicap at Haydock.
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With Jason Hart in the saddle again, as he was at Chelmsford, the 15/2 chance was never far off the pace towards the stands' side rail and eventually overhauled game runner-up Night On Earth (11/1) close home to score by a neck.
“He’s done well hasn’t he!” the winning owner John Blackburn told Racing TV.
"Jason has given him a peach of a ride. The other horse has given us a nice lead and I’m thinking ‘hmm is he going to get to him?’ but he did and Jason said he had plenty left in reserve.
“It’s fantastic for Midge and all the guys who work there. We’ll have a drink tonight I suppose!
“The bonus hadn’t really been on my radar but Midge said we’ll go to Newmarket, he’d had two or three prep runs, and he wins under Oisin. He went to Chelmsford and won with Jason on even though he drifted like a barge (in the betting).
“So we put ourselves into a position where we’ve got the opportunity to win a hundred grand and he’s taken it. It’s brilliant.”
Sky Bet's Head of Sports PR Michael Shinners said: "What a phenomenal achievement by the horse and all connected to him. Paul Midgley is a fine trainer of sprinters and has proved that all over again with Spring Is Sprung.
"A big well done to all concerned - and it just shows the Sky Bet Sunday Series bonus is there to be won!"
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