Sprint Cup Preview 2013

Mos Be Love - Gerald Mosse reunites with Reckless Abandon on Saturday

As the flat season enters its final couple of furlongs there is no shortage of top class action this weekend with two huge Group 1 races either side of the Irish Sea this Saturday.

Over in Ireland there is the Irish Champion Stakes whilst on our own shores Haydock host the Sprint Cup.

On paper the race looks a lay-up for the season’s sprinting star Lethal Force to notch his third Group 1 of the year having already taken the Diamond Jubilee and the July Cup this term.

He did meet defeat last time out in a hotly run race in France but his second to the world class Moonlight Cloud – who has subsequently won arguably the race of the season when smashing the likes of Dawn Approach and Declaration of War in the Jacques Le Marois – is hardly anything to be ashamed of.

Recently bought for a small fortune by Cheveley Park Stud for breeding purposes Lethal Force can enhance his stud value further here by winning yet another Group 1 sprint.

With old rival Society Rock sadly out of the race through injury it could be a horse from his own yard that gives Lethal Force most to think about here though.

Trainer Clive Cox has thus far this season kept his two star sprinters apart, but this time Reckless Abandon lines up against his stable mate and you may get a sense of deja vu here with me tipping Reckless Abandon in a big Haydock sprint, as I fancied him on his seasonal reappearance in the Temple Stakes when he went down a gallant third to Kingsgate Native and a horse that runs in the same colours as Lethal Force Swiss Spirit, both of whom will again take their chances here.

2000 Guineas - Big Race Preview

Dawn Raid - Jim Bolger's Champion two-year-old can win the 2000 Guineas

The first English Classic of the season takes place on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile this Saturday, and as has been the case for the last three renewals of the one mile contest there is a very short priced favourite heading in to the race.

St. Nicholas Abbey failed to record victory at flat racing’s HQ in 2010 at a prohibitive price but Frankel (2011) and Camelot (2012) both landed the spoils at compressed odds.

2013 sees long time ante-post favourite for the 2000 Guineas Dawn Approach head there with a serious rival in the market in the form of Craven winner Toronado for the Richard Hannon team.

Dawn Approach was light years ahead of the two-year-old opposition he faced in 2012 and improved with each of his runs throughout the year; he remains unbeaten and has twice scored at Group 1 level.

I’ve long thought he would be very hard to beat in the Guineas and even with Toronado bursting on to the scene at a late stage that sentiment has not changed.