This year’s Commonwealth Cup winner heads the betting for Saturday’s Sprint Cup at Haydock Park.
Haydock's Sprint Cup is a staple of the British sprinting calendar. The penultimate Group 1 over 6f in the season, the race is lauded for introducing the three-year-olds into the open division.
Indeed, out of the last 10 renewals, five have been won by three-year-olds and this year looks no different with the two race favourites, Inisherin and Elite Status both in their third year.
Worth over £225,000 to the winner, this Group 1 is a highly anticipated fixture.
Haydock Sprint Cup Odds
| Sprint Cup Favourites | Best Price | Worst Price |
|---|---|---|
| Inisherin | 4/1 | 3/1 |
| Elite Status | 6/1 | 9/2 |
| Swingalong | 8/1 | 6/1 |
Haydock Sprint Cup Date
The 2024 Betfair Sprint Cup will take place on Saturday 7th September at Haydock Park racecourse at 3.35pm. The race is scheduled to be broadcast live on ITV.
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Haydock Sprint Cup Entries
Inisherin
The highest rating runner in the field with an OR of 117, this son of Shamardal has enjoyed a productive three-year-old campaign.
First seen finishing 6th in the 2000 Guineas, the drop back to sprinting trips proved the making of him as he won Haydock's Sandy Lane Stakes before running away impressively to win the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.
He then stepped out of 3yo company for the first time in the July Cup Stakes at Newmarket in July. Although he only finished 5th that day, the race came only three weeks after his Royal Ascot run.
Now returning to the scene of his Group 2 success, he should go extremely close. Any ease in the ground should help keep the field without striking range, with Haydock's soft ground in May and Ascot's stiff uphill finish in June suiting him well.
Elite Status
Sent off a 7/4 favourite for the 2023 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, Elite Status has slowly recovered the lofty reputation that trainer Karl Burke holds him in.
This son of Havana Grey was twice beaten out of sight at the end of last season, but has returned in his three-year-old campaign to be two out of two. Both wins have come at Newbury, the first in a Listed race in May and the second in a Group 3 in July.
Interestingly, the horse he beat into second that day, Lake Forest, was the same horse that Inisherin beat in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June.
Being a Group 3, Saturday's Group 1 represents a significant step up in class and with a rating of 112, he will need to improve again but he's going the right way.
Swingalong
A second Karl Burke hope is the filly Swingalong who has been a model of consistency. Last season she finished 4th in this race last year before following it up with a 4th at Ascot in the Champion Sprint Stakes.
She needed her reappearance run this year but has since finished 2nd in the Group 1 at Royal Ascot before also finishing 2nd in the Group 1 July Stakes at Newmarket. Race favourite Inisherin was back in 5th that day, and Swingalong also has a 2lb swing with that rival so there's every chance she will confirm that form.
She should be right in the thick of things.
Haydock Sprint Cup Tips
The three-year-olds have a diminishing weight allowance from the older horses and, whilst they are improving, can be opposed.
SWINGALONG was 2nd to course specialist Mill Stream in the July Cup is an excellent piece of form and she can go one better on Saturday.
