Haydock Sprint Cup: Time to play the weather game

For much of the summer it was difficult to believe that it would ever rain again in England. The only "guessing game" where the ground for almost all the big meetings was concerned revolved around the gung-ho nature of certain clerks of the course when turning on the taps.

But then came the Ebor Meeting. Rain is back.

And particularly in the north: the weather forecast for the period leading up to the next big Group 1 in these Isles, the Haydock Sprint Cup (Saturday 5 September), is extremely unsettled for the northwestern England. We are no meteorologists, but are always happy enough to act on universal predictions of plentiful rainfall over a prolonged period of time. And that's the picture being painted for the next week or so.

In the context of the Sprint Cup, this angle is particularly compelling in view of the fact that the front of the market is littered with horses who like it fast. Comanche Brave, Coppull, Satono Reve, Division, Big Mojo, Lake Forest....with every drop of rain that falls, the chances of the connections of these horse deciding to head elsewhere becomes greater. Indeed, many of the corresponding trainers have already plainly stated as much.

The two horses we like in this scenario don't need it to be full-on soft – though they have shown they can handle that. But they would also be greatly advantaged by the sting being taken out of the ground, and plain "good" would suit them just fine too.

And that scenario looks like it's heavily into odds-on territory now.

The rationales for backing the two horses in question are as follows:

Almeraq @ 8/1

• 4 wins and 2 second places from eight runs (one race: heavy fall)

  
  

• Group 1 winner at Royal Ascot this year over 6 furlongs

  
  

• Disappointed in the July Cup last time out, with connections minded to blame this poor run on his second successive encounter with fast ground. We don't know they are right, but he's never disappointed on any other occasion (heavy fall can obviously be discounted) and we reckon he's a strong candidate to bounce back

  
  

• Likely clear favourite in event of ground softening significantly (trainers of both Comanche Brave and Coppull have been vocal in expressing their preference for fast ground)

Kind of Blue @25/1

• Has disappointed twice in the last year on fast ground, including last time out at Royal Ascot

  
  

• Strong record of finishing in the frame otherwise, including on multiple occasions at G1 level

  
  

• Superb Haydock record at G1 level in this very race: 2nd in 2024 (beaten a head), 2nd in 2025 (beaten 1.25 lengths)

  
  

• Trainer James Fanshawe is firmly targeting Haydock and looking forward to the race: "If it does rain then I’m sure he will give a good account of himself."

We will play Almeraq win-only and Kind of Blue each-way.

Recommendation: Back the following horses antepost for the Haydock Sprint Cup on Saturday 5 September:

Almeraq win only at 8/1 (Betvictor) or more widely 7/1 (Bet365, Unibet, Betfred, Ladbrokes, Coral, various other smaller outfits). Take no lower.

Kind of Blue each-way at 25/1 with Bet365 or Coral (widely available 20/1 is OK too)