'He's very well priced at 12-1' - Loughnane sweet on Amo's Sprint Cup hope

Dave Loughnane on Monday played down any fears about the health of his string and reckons Go Bears Go has a fine chance of underlining that in the Betfair Sprint Cup (3.30) at Haydock on Saturday.

Loughnane has saddled 30 British Flat winners this year and 14 came in April and March, but just two have been added to the tally in July and August.

However, Go Bears Go, the star of his Shropshire stables, did land a Group 3 at the Curragh this month. The three-year-old is due to reappear in the Sprint Cup and is a 12-1 chance with Betfair to give the trainer his first top-flight success.

Riding arrangements following a breakdown between Rossa Ryan and owners Amo Racing had not been determined according to Loughnane, who said: "He ran a blinder last time, backing up a very good second in the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury, which had its form franked when Minzaal was second in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.

"It was a rock-solid run and the cheekpieces worked. We hoped, in that middle part of the race, they would and if they don't work again, they don't.

"They just help him travel in the middle part of the race as he has a tendency to hit a little bit of a flat spot over six furlongs and they seem to help him out.

"I think he's very well priced at 12-1. He's gone on all types of ground, but I'd just want genuine, nice, fair summer ground."

Dave Loughnane: trainer was bang in form in the springCredit: Edward Whitaker

The hands-on Loughnane, who started training in 2016 and once worked for legendary Australian figure Bart Cummings, is not preoccupying himself with the form of his yard.

"We only have a small team of horses and they can only perform at their best for so long," the Galway native added. "You're going to have a quiet period at some point and it's just happened over the last month or so.

"I don't think there's been anything – bar one or two who I could pick out – that has been running bad and we've had a lot of placed horses through July and August. We've had a lull, but it happens to every yard every year. We're not going to change anything, we're going to keep doing what we're doing and we've done plenty of bloods and scopes on horses.

"Everything is healthy and happy and the horses look and are working as well as ever. It's something I'm not trying to overthink.

"It would be a big statement if he won. We were probably having a quiet enough time before he won at the Curragh, while we had a winner at Newmarket that week too.

"If you sit down and go through each run, which I can afford to do, bar one or two, nothing's run how I didn't expect them to."

Betfair Sprint Cup contenders

Art Power
Brad The Brief
Dragon Symbol
Emaraaty Ana
Great Ambassador
Khaadem
Kinross
Minzaal
Naval Crown
Rohaan
Castle Star
Dubawi Legend
Flaming Rib
Go Bears Go
Harry Three
Chil Chil
Umm Kulthum
Ventura Diamond
Hala Hala Athmani

Betfair Sprint Cup (3.35 Haydock, Saturday)

Betfair: 9-2 Minzaal, 5 Naval Crown, 7 Emaraaty Ana, 7 Kinross, 9 Brad The Brief, 9 Rohaan, 12 Art Power, 12 Go Bears Go, 16 bar

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