Montassib ran out a shock 25-1 winner of the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock. Trained by William Haggas and ridden by Cieren Fallon, the six-year-old had been off the track since winning the Group Three Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle in June.
He shrugged off that lengthy absence in style, however, coming from well off the pace to grab Group One glory from the James Fanshawe-trained Kind Of Blue. Another Haggas entry, Unequal Love, kept on to take third with 50-1 shot Vadream fourth.
A jubilant Fallon said: “What a performance, he’s a horse you have to have confidence in and take your time. He’s done nothing but improve and I’m very lucky to keep on him. Fallon was riding his third Group One winner after steering Oxted to land the July Cup in 2020 and the King’s Stand in 2021.
The son of six-time champion jockey Kieren Fallon, Cieren has endured his fair share of injury setbacks this year and was delighted to be back in the big-race winner’s enclosure on Merseyside. “It’s incredible. My family are here and it’s my first Group One for the boss Mr Haggas who has looked after me from day one. It’s a special one.”
Haggas was pleasantly surprised as he admitted he had expected “not much” coming into the race. He said: “I thought Unequal Love might run well as she’s such a genuine filly, but I thought the ground would be too quick for Montassib. Now we have found his right trip … he’s pretty effective at six furlongs.”
Montassib will now bid to double his Group tally in the Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot, with Paddy Power slashing his odds to 6-1 from 14-1. “He had a heart condition as a two-year-old, but he’s a good horse and we’ll look towards Ascot – that was always the race that we had an eye on,” Haggas added. PA Media
Isambard Brunel may bridge gap in future
The jumpers at Bangor went about their business in blazing sunshine on Friday, but on the Flat at Ascot, it was very much a day for the diehards: grey, damp and distinctly autumnal, with stepping-stone races for two-year-olds at the heart of the card.
These are the days when there might just be a future Classic or Group One winner in action, but it is as likely to be among the also-rans as it is to walk into the winner’s enclosure. Aidan O’Brien’s Paddington, for instance, the winner of four Group Ones including the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Eclipse last summer, made his debut on this card in 2022.
Paddington was sent off at 9-2 and finished fifth of eight, so it is too early to be writing off the same trainer’s Isambard Brunel, who filled the same position in the equivalent seven-furlong race behind Ralph Beckett’s Calla Lagoon on Friday.
His travelling companion Ballet Slippers, meanwhile, landed odds of 1-4 by a length in the fillies’ novice over a mile and could now head to either the Group Two Rockfel Stakes or the Group One Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket’s Future Champions Weekend in October.
Calla Lagoon is very much a name to bear in mind for next year for a trainer who always gives his horses time to mature, and much the same is true of Hamad al-Jehani’s Diego Ventura, who gave away lumps of weight in the six-furlong novice, did everything wrong in the race itself and still got up to win by a head
O’Brien himself, meanwhile, to no one’s great surprise, was not here to see Ballet Slippers, an impeccably bred daughter of Dubawi out of a half-sister to an Arc winner, add £8,100 to his prize money total for the year in Britain. His global racing empire has more significant targets this weekend, including a trio of valuable races at Kentucky Downs in the United States and Henry Longfellow’s tilt at the Group One Prix du Moulin at Longchamp on Sunday.
But O’Brien’s domination of the 2024 racing season is so complete that he seems ever present. His first UK trainers’ championship since 2017 has been a foregone conclusion for months, and before racing on Friday, O’Brien had amassed £6.4m in prize money in the title race. Andrew Balding, his nearest pursuer, remains the wrong side of £4m, while John & Thady Gosden, in third, have only just passed £3m.
York 1.40 Shah 2.15 Make It Easy (nb) 2.50 Brighton Boy 3.25 Old Cock 4.00 Significantly (nap) 4.35 Lil Guff 5.10 Ey Up Its The Boss
Fontwell Park 1.55 State Of Honor 2.30 Strictly Tango 3.05 Invictus Allen 3.40 Finest View 4.15 Fakir 4.50 Borna Gem
The only remaining question in the title race, in fact, is whether O’Brien will reclaim the all-time prize money record from the Gosden stable, which banked £8.52m in 2018, a season after O’Brien had set a new mark of £8.34m.
Willie Mullins finally won the National Hunt title in April and when the current Flat season draws to a close, Irish stables will simultaneously hold the UK championship in both codes for the first time.
Perth 1.55 Luckie Seven 2.30 Jerrash 3.05 Leading Lion 3.40 Sea Aster 4.15 Winds Of Winter 4.48 Summergrounds 5.22 Blended Stealth 5.55 General Hubble
Newton Abbot 2.05 Paddy De Pole 2.40 Beat Box 3.15 Coconut Twist 3.50 Torrent 4.25 Call Blue 5.00 Alan De Banks
Brighton 2.20 Hellavapace 2.55 Kildonan 3.30 Secret Handsheikh 4.05 Spring 4.40 Fighting Poet 5.15 The Thunderer 5.50 Otago
Wolverhampton 4.55 Claim to Glory 5.30 Target Man 6.00 B Associates 6.30 It’s A Love Thing (nap) 7.00 Chalk Mountain 7.30 Grecian God (nb) 8.00 Jez Bomb 8.30 Q Twenty Boy
“It’s just very hard to beat him,” Beckett said, after doing precisely that with Calla Lagoon. “At every Festival meeting, the Ebor, July meeting, Ascot, he’s very hard to beat and it’s just the way it is. We have to deal with it, they are the standard that we all have to aim at.” Greg Wood
