Richard Hughes hopes his exciting filly is from the same mould as super-fast winners of Newbury's big weekend race

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You can end up looking pretty daft, trying to estimate odds for a future race before the bookies, but when they eventually get around to chalking up prices for the Weatherbys Super Sprint on Saturday, I'd say Bint Archange is going to be favourite. It's an exciting situation for her trainer, Richard Hughes, who won the race twice as a jockey, on two of the most memorable winners of a race which is probably more fun to ride in than bet on.

Monsieur Chevalier and Tiggy Wiggy both represented the Hannon stable, famous, among other things, for being good at winning the Super Sprint. There was a level of expectation, in both cases, which seemingly undercut the pleasure of victory.

"I felt I was on the best horse in the race," Hughes says. "Just don't get them beat..."

They needed contrasting tactics. Monsieur Chevalier was the first of them, some 17 years ago (how can it be?) when he was sent off the 2-1 favourite in a 20-runner field. My goodness, you'd have had your heart in your mouth at the two pole, when they had three behind them and a tight pack to weave through.

Monsieur Chevalier (near) wins the Weatherbys Super Sprint in 2009Credit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

A game little horse, Monsieur Chevalier quickened through one gap, then another, but some beast called Shamandar had got first run on the stands rail and would be hard to catch. It's lovely to watch again as Hughes winds his mount up without resorting to the whip, beyond waving it a bit. He even had time to rest his hands on the horse's neck in the final couple of strides.

"There aren't many sprints at Newbury with that many runners for some reason," the jockey-turned-trainer reflects. "You don't have a Wokingham-type race in Newbury, I don't know why.

"The Super Sprint is one of the rare five-furlong races where you're going to get 20 runners or so. They just go straight down the track and you're unlucky if you don't get the run you want to get ... especially if you have a stone in hand."

A stone might have been fair in relation to most of the runners but not Shamandar. She won a Listed race at Salisbury two runs later and is the dam of Fitzella, who was fifth in the Commonwealth Cup a few weeks ago.

Tiggy Wiggy came five years later, the licence having been handed from Richard Hannon Sr to Richard Hannon Jr in between. There was no settling her out the back.

Tiggy Wiggy's six-length winning margin was no mean feat in a big-field Super SprintCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

"Let her rip," says Hughes, recalling the Route One tactics that worked so well on the rocket filly. "She landed two clear [out of the stalls] and I let her roll. They were never anywhere near her."

Tiggy Wiggy made all, began to pull away after a couple of furlongs and had a six-length lead as she careered across the line. "That's very unusual for a sprint. They mightn't be any good but there'll be something with a bit of cheap speed to have a go at you."

Wins in the Lowther and the Cheveley Park followed. More impressive still, Tiggy Wiggy got third in the 1,000 Guineas the following spring, despite being a pretty blatant non-stayer at a mile.

Between them, the Hannons, long-time allies of Hughes, have won the Super Sprint 11 times. So he'll have a fairly sound grasp, at this stage, of the type of horse that suits this idiosyncratic contest.

Would Bint Archange fit the mould? He has no doubts on that score, just a nagging worry over her poor effort when last of 27 in the Queen Mary.

Bint Archange: won the Listed Dragon Stakes at Sandown last timeCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

"She won in Ascot [in May] the way I thought she'd win. And I went to Royal Ascot and I nearly fell off the stand with how bad she ran. I couldn't see her being out of the first four, deep down."

Redemption soon followed at the Eclipse meeting, where Bint Archange once more looked a smart horse in landing the Listed Dragon Stakes at 10-1. "I went to Sandown holding my breath,"  the trainer says.

"I thought, watching it, that she was gonna win halfway. You just kinda knew."

Did anything ever come to light that would explain the Queen Mary run? "Absolutely nothing. She might have been in season, but there were no signs. They don't always give you a sign.

"But what we did notice was, at Royal Ascot she was very easy to saddle and walked around the parade ring lovely, which you nearly want for a big occasion. But at Sandown, when she got to the races, my travelling head girl said she was very spicy, much more alive."

Richard Hughes: "I thought, watching it, that she was gonna win halfway. You just kinda knew"Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

So, if you're at Newbury on Saturday and Bint Archange is strolling round the paddock half-asleep, it might be time to consider her rivals. Hopefully, that won't be necessary. 

It was Ryan Moore who rode at Sandown. The former champ won't be available this time, because of the Irish Oaks that same afternoon. Hughes hopes William Buick will be aboard, as he was when the filly scored in May. 

If she could just hit the front a stride or two earlier than Monsieur Chevalier, her backers would appreciate it...

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