Three sprinters who can make an impact at the highest level
By Andrew Asquith
16:51 · THU June 30, 2022
Andrew Asquith highlights three sprinters to keep on the right side in a division lacking depth.
The King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot was blown apart by the Chris Waller-trained Nature Strip, a prolific winner in Australia whose four-and-a-half-length success demonstrated his top-class status but also underlined how the pick of the sprinters in Britain are behind the best in the world.
Nature Strip earned a Timeform rating of 133 for his King's Stand success, while Twilight Calls, who ran on well for second without ever posing a threat, is rated 118, hammering home how the current crop of five-furlong sprinters in Britain are a middle-of-the-road bunch.
Naval Crown (123) and Creative Force (121) provided Charlie Appleby with a one-two in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes, but the level of form achieved was still some way short of what Nature Strip produced in the King’s Stand and highlighted how the standard set by the top domestic sprinters is not an exacting one.
Here are three horses who have hinted that they have the potential to make an impact in top-level sprints later in the season.
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Raasel was picked up by The Horse Watchers for just 10,000 guineas at the Tattersalls Horses-In-Training Sale in August 2020 and he has proved to be an inspired purchase, winning seven times, including five on the spin last season.
His winning spree started from a BHA mark of 73 in September 2021 and, less than 12 months later, he now has a BHA rating of 108, highlighting the rate of knots at which he has improved.
Raasel, a smooth winner of a Listed race at Haydock last time, appears to be well suited by sharp tracks, and the King George Stakes at Goodwood (a course where he is unbeaten) appears to be one of his main targets, while he is also entered in the Nunthorpe at York the following month.
Raasel, who has been declared for the Coral Charge at Sandown on Saturday, is an upwardly-mobile sprinter who doesn’t appear to have reached his ceiling yet, so he is a sprinter to keep on the right side.
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Royal Aclaim seemingly hasn’t been the easiest to train as she made a winning debut at Newcastle in May last year, but was off the track for over a year before defying a penalty in a run-of-the-mill minor event at Bath in June.
However, the form of her debut success could hardly have worked out any better (she had subsequent three-time Group 1 winner Perfect Power a length behind in third) and the style of success at Bath also marked her out as a potentially smart sprinter.
Admittedly, that was a thin race, but she barely had to come off the bridle to score by three and a quarter lengths, displaying a smart turn of foot to quicken clear in the final furlong. She holds a host of big-race entries, notably the King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood and the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, and she is definitely a filly to be positive about.
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Sense of Duty is a more obvious horse to highlight, given that she has won four of her five starts, and routed her opposition on her first try in pattern company in the Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle last weekend.
The form of her Listed success at Haydock on her penultimate start had been boosted by the placed horses, but it was still very impressive how she dismissed the boys last time, that performance marking her out as well worth her place in Group 1 company.
On Timeform's figures, even a conservative view of that form gives her the beating of the principals from the Commonwealth Cup, taking into account her fillies' allowance, and it will be interesting to see whether she is supplemented for the July Cup next month.
There is no shortage of options for her later in the season should William Haggas wish to take a more patient approach, but, either way, she is a very exciting filly.
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