Youngster Hello Youmzain Can Defeat Elders in Sprint Cup
The Sprint Cup is one of the last big sprint races of the season and it takes place at Haydock on Saturday. This Group One race has given us some thrilling contests over the past few years, and it would be great to see that again this time around. We have a bunch of older horses and a handful of three year olds at the bottom of the weights who are all trying to get one over on their elder rivals, and I think one of them might. The horse in question is the Kevin Ryan trained Hello Youmzain, one I think has a great chance of winning.
This horse was a very good two year old, winning two of his three starts including a Group Two in France. He came back in the spring and finished fourth over seven furlongs at Newbury, a race where he can be upgraded for his run as he was badly hampered when trying to make a move. A clear run there would have seen him finish a lot closer.
He made no mistake in his next appearance, which came at this course. He beat Calyx by over three lengths in what was a very impressive performance and one that threw him into the spotlight as far as three year old sprinters go. He dropped back to 6f on that occasion, the same trip as today and that really appeared to suit this horse, so it is no surprise that we are seeing him continue to run at 6f.
He then went to Royal Ascot to run in the Commonwealth Cup, a 6f sprint Group One for three year olds. He finished third in this race behind Advertise who was supposed to run here also, but has been withdrawn due to a bad scope on Friday morning. Again, I think he can be upgraded based on what he achieved there. He was a little slowly away and found himself towards the back of the field early on. He did make good headway and came to challenge, but never really looked like getting to the leaders.
While he may not have won on the day, my feeling about the Ascot run is that if the race was ran again, jockey Kevin Stott would have done things differently.
Now we move onto this race, a race where he will take on older horses as well as fellow three year olds. Based on the form he has in the book so far this season, there is a lot to like about this horse and many reasons to fancy him. He has done nothing wrong in all three starts, and assuming we see the same again from him, he looks to have a great chance of going close at Haydock on Saturday afternoon.