A big field of 16 went to the post for the Group I Haydock Sprint Cup (6f) overnight and with race favourite Inisherin failing to fire it was left to outsiders to fill the placings with Exceed and Excel gelding Montassib claiming a narrow victory.
Trained by William Haggas and ridden by Cieren Fallon, six year-old Montassib has been kept to a 6f trip for his racing this year and has found his niche winning two of his three previous starts in 2024 in Listed and Group races before upping the ante for his first G1 win.
Montassib chimed in with a furlong to run and gradually worked to the lead before going on to win by a head over Blue Point colt Kind of Blue.
The win came as a pleasant surprise for his trainer William Haggas, who also had third placed Unequal Love in the race.
“I thought Unequal Love might run well but I wasn't expecting Montassib to enjoy that ground (good track) and I thought they were both drawn away from the real action. We relied on Bucanero Fuerte going forward, which he did, and Unequal Love was always travelling well, whereas Cieren [Fallon] had to get after Montassib,” said William Haggas.
“On softer ground they come back to him and that would suit him better, but he's the most genuine horse at home and Cieren always thinks there's more to come. The Champions Sprint was always the race I was looking forward to. You would think the race would suit him, but he'll now be one of the favourites and things are different when you're expected to win.”
Bred by Shadwell, Monatssib has always been trained by Haggas and initially raced in the Shadwell colours before being sold privately into his current ownership group.
He has the overall record of eight wins from 19 starts with this success his first in a G1 race.
Montassib is the best of four winners from Felwah, a winning Aqlaam mare from the family of Group III winner Lady Gloria.
He is the 20th Group I winner for Darley’s champion sire Exceed and Excel, who was retired from stud duty earlier this year after making his mark in both hemispheres with 13 of those G1 winners Southern Hemisphere bred and seven from his shuttling to the UK.
