Leading Sprint Cup fancy Sense Of Duty to miss Haydock and rest of season

Top sprinter Sense Of Duty, who was 9-2 favourite with the sponsors for next Saturday’s Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup, will miss the Haydock highlight after suffering a setback that will rule her out for the rest of the season, said trainer William Haggas.

The progressive daughter of Showcasing would have been chasing a five-timer at Haydock and is unbeaten in three starts in 2022. She was last seen running out an impressive winner of the Group 3 Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle on Northumberland Plate day.

Sense of Duty’s winning spree began when she got off the mark at the second time of asking as a juvenile at Newbury last August.

Sprint Cup entries and betting

She then resurfaced at Redcar in April when she defied a penalty in a novice before registering her first black-type success in the Listed Cecil Frail at Haydock the following month, accounting for subsequent winner Flotus.

Her best came at Newcastle last time when she pummelled Annaf by a comfortable four and a half lengths.

Haggas said: "Unfortunately Sense Of Duty has suffered a setback and is out for the season I’m afraid."

A win in the Group 1 would have boosted Haggas’s pursuit of a first trainer’s title with just short of £200,000 to the winner but there is a long way to go as the competition does not finish until December 31.

He is currently around £142,000 clear of last year’s winner Charlie Appleby, who has the fancied Naval Crown entered in the Haydock sprint.

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