After Minzaal thumped his rivals in the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock, winning rider Jim Crowley likened the colt’s performance to a boxer.
“He's a remarkable horse because he's so laid-back,” said Crowley. “The bell goes and he's like a boxer, he just wakes up. He's got a great temperament and it's lovely to make him a Group One winner.”
Crowley rides the best in the world in Baaeed and now arguably also partners one of the fastest in the world too. His rivals they were only making up the numbers with Emaraaty Ana, last year’s winner, taking second and Rohaan back in third place.
Victory was very much a revival for Owen Burrows, no longer a private trainer for the Hamdan Al Maktoum family.
“You soon get forgotten in this game,” he said. “We don't have a lot of horses to run and big winners on a Saturday are hard to come by. I've been trying to attract outside owners.”
Gina Mangan also flagged up her ability when partnering Island Brave to win the Old Borough Cup Handicap, the race the gelding won last year in the hands of Silvestre De Sousa. Mangan, struggling to contain her delight, said: “When you have a willing partner like him, it just makes the job so much easier. I can’t believe we get paid to do this! I am so happy.”
Unlike Island Brave and Minzaal who clearly relished the lightning quick conditions, there were many that did not. By the end of play more than a third of the intended runners were pulled out on account of the fast ground. Over the years Haydock has run into numerous problems with their ground conditions both on the Flat and over the jumps.
With the course riding fast on Thursday and Friday, many had questioned clerk of course Kirkland Tellwright’s decision not to water the track.
“We've had a forecast of rain through the week and we'd only want 4 mm of rain for everyone to be happy,” he said. “It hasn't materialised. I do believe it's right that when you're running a Group 1 sprint race, if you're in doubt, you're better off leaving it alone.”
