What a difference a year makes as Mums Tipple starts recovery mission

If a week is a long time in sport then a year can feel like an eternity – take the curious case of Mums Tipple.

This time last year he was about to win a very hot Ascot maiden, from subsequent Jersey winner Molatham and Godolphin's highly regarded Man Of Promise.

Then he went to York, gave weight and an 11-length battering to 20 rivals in a supposedly competitive sales race, broke many a stopwatch in the process and looked for all the world a potential superstar.

When his owners Marian Lyons and Patricia Zanelli turned down reported offers of £3 million for the chestnut son of Footstepsinthesand races like the Middle Park, 2,000 Guineas and Commonwealth Cup were exactly what they were dreaming of.

It is just those hopes more likely featured just two horses being able to beat him across those three races rather than him only being able to beat two horses.

And so we are here, at Newbury's Group 3 Hackwood Stakes, in which he runs on Saturday, a race that was likely given precious little thought in those mid-winter and spring time dreams.

It represents both a last chance saloon and a fresh start. A chance to prove that the talent that was so evident that day at York remains. Everyone with a stopwatch was impressed for a reason. The £3m that was reportedly offered was not an act of kindness, or charity. Some very astute judges thought they were buying not only a potential superstar but investing in a future sire.

Watch Mums Tipple blitz the field at York last season

Getting his career back on track will be no easy task. Three-time Group 1 winner The Tin Man, multiple Group winner Judicial, horses proven at this level such as Shine So Bright, Dakota Gold, 2018 2,000 Guineas runner-up Tip Two Win and similarly talented young type Repartee are all on journeys of their own.

But a week is a long time in sport, and an authoritative display from any one of them could launch them into contention for the season's remaining big sprint prizes.

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