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Mosse excited by Sir Dancealot ride after late Sprint Cup supplement

3 minute read

Blue Point set to skip Haydock for the Flying Five at Curragh

Gerald Mosse cannot wait to get back on board the rapidly improving Sir Dancealot after the David Elsworth-trained four-year-old was supplemented for Saturday's 32RedSprint Cup at Haydock.

Sir Dancealot Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images)

The French ace, currently based in Newmarket, said: "I'm very excited. It's a very good race and if the trainer has supplemented him he must be happy with him."

Back-to-back wins under Mosse in the Lennox and Hungerford Stakes have persuaded connections to pay £15,600 to pitch Sir Dancealot in against the likes of Harry Angel in the Group 1.

Limato Picture: Pat Healy Photography

And forecast rain towards the end of the week is only expected to increase the pair's chances in a contest to which the George Scott-trained James Garfield has also been added but King's Stand winner Blue Point will miss for Irish Champions Weekend.

Blue Point Picture: Racing and Sports

Mosse said: "If there's a cut in the ground it will suit him well and the step back in trip shouldn't be a problem. He always gives me his best – I've ridden him four times and he's won three.

"He gives me a good feeling and he's a very nice horse – I'm really pleased to be riding him."

Sir Dancealot was a 9-1 chance on Monday with Sprint Cup sponsors 32Red, who go 6-4 about Harry Angel.

Rain has been forecast for Friday and Saturday in Lancashire, and Haydock's clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright is predicting ground on the easier side of good.

He said on Monday: "We've got drizzle this morning and then we'll have two dry days on Wednesday and Thursday and then six millimetres of rain on Friday and Saturday.


"It's a long way off, but if we get the rain we're expected to it will be easier than good, but a lot could change."

Henry Candy believes it's 50-50 whether Limato takes his chance at Haydock with softer ground against the two-time Group 1 winner.

The six-year-old claimed his first win of the season, when a comfortable victor in Newmarket's Hopeful Stakes last month.

Candy said: "He's in on Saturday and Sunday at York [Garrowby Stakes] – the Sprint Cup would be his main target.

"The ground is good, good to soft, so it's no more than a fifty-fifty at this stage. He won very easily last time, when it was nice to see him travelling strongly through the race. I think he's back now and he's in very good form at home."

Group winners The Tin Man, Eqtidaar, Tasleet and Brando are also primed to take their chance, but with only a 15-day gap between his third-place finish in the Nunthorpe and Saturday's Sprint Cup, Blue Point will head to the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh next weekend, with Appleby saying: "We wanted to give him a bit more time from York to recover."

Appleby's other Sprint Cup hope D'Bai will also miss Haydock.

The Godolphin trainer added: "D'Bai won't run either, but I'm not quite sure where we'll head next with him – we have no plans with him at this stage."

The John Gosden-trained Dreamfield was the other notable absentee from the 17-runner field.