Soccer

Five fastest Wetherbys Super Sprint winners

The Wetherbys Super Sprint at Newbury, on Saturday, July 17 (3.40), is a five furlong test of unadulterated speed.

First run as recently as 1991, the race was devised for two-year-old horses that have fetched less than £60,000 at sales.
The race was created by Lord Canarvon and Richard Hannon Senior, with the now retired Marlborough trainer winning the race he designed seven times in total.
His son, Richard Hannon Junior, has won a hat-trick of Wetherby's Super Sprints and has strong claims in 2021 with the speedy Gubbass.
Planet Sport aims its speed gun at the five fastest Wetherby's Super Sprint winners since its 1991 inception.

Fancy a punt in this year's Wetherbys Super Sprint? Planet Sport Bet has some very competitive odds for the big race.

5. Miss Stamper

Trainer: Richard Hannon Senior

Time: 1.00.59

Costing just 7500 guineas as a yearling, Miss Stamper raked in a whole lot more for legendary trainer Richard Hannon Senior in the 1996 Wetherbys Super Sprint.

Raced just six times in total, the filly Miss Stamper headed to the race as a 14/1 outsider to the Peter Makin-trained favourite Secret Combe.

But Hannon Snr knew exactly what it took to take the race of his own creation.

Miss Stamper trod over her opposition, winning by a good half length from Young Bigwig in second.

Clocking in at 1.00.59, Miss Stamper had cut just over a second off the previous race record held by David Chappell's Brief Glimpse.

4. Lord Kintyre

Trainer: Rod Millman

Time: 1.00.52

Rod Millman wasn't mulling over a slow time in the 1997 Wetherbys Super Sprint with Lord Kintyre.

Held up in the 23 horse cavalry charge, jockey Brett Doyle took up the running at the one furlong pole and outpaced the Geoff Lewis trained Pure Coincidence for a swift three-quarter length victory.

The 7/1 winner showed it isn't always the most fashionable stables that come out on top in the Wetherbys Super Sprint.

Millman's horse set a new race record time of 1.00.52, for good measure.

Millman has a chance in the 2021 renewal with Amazonian Dream, as the Devon trainer keeps faith with the race that bought him record breaking success in the 90's.

3. Tiggy Wiggy

Trainer: Richard Hannon Jr.

Time: 0.59.85

There was no way that Richard Hannon Jr was going to leave all the Wetherbys Super Sprint glory to his father, and Tiggy Wiggy proved to be just the ticket.

Eventually crowned Cartier Champion Two Year-Old Filly, Tiggy Wiggy was bought for a modest £41,000 as a yearling before showing the potential to impose herself on top sprints.
There was only one horse in it in the 2014 race as Richard Hughes made all the running on the 5/2 favourite.
Tiggy Wiggy stuck on the turbos at one furlong out and quickened away for a six length win from the Roger Varian trained Beauty Kingdom.
Only after the dust had settled at Newbury was it realised that Tiggy Wiggy had broken the race record and squeaked under a minute for the first time in the Super Sprint.

Richard Hannon Jr's Gubbass is fancied for the 2021 renewal, but beating the race record and getting one over on his father with Tiggy Wiggy remains a great achievement.

2. Peniaphobia

Trainer: Richard Fahey

Time: 0.59.50

Peniaphobia is the fear of poverty but backers of the horse of the same name in the 2013 Super Sprint would have been laughing all the way to the bank.
Anyone expecting the Hannon domination of the race to bear fruit was disappointed as Lilbourne Lass, the Hannon 4/1 favourite couldn't match the finishing speed of the Richard Fahey trained Peniaphobia.
Shortly after Peniaphobia's neck win in the Super Sprint, the horse moved to the Far East to work with Tony Cruz, eventually winning the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint.

The Yorkshire trainer Fahey has a leading chance in the 2021 Sprint Cup with Vintage Clarets but will never forget Peniaphobia who got a full half a second under the minute mark.

1. Superstar Leo

Trainer: William Haggas

Time: 0.59.19

Bred by the legendary jockey Lester Piggott and bought for a snip at 3400 guineas as a yearling, Superstar Leo was a mixture of the frugal and the fantastic.
The filly warmed up for the Super Sprint with a fine win in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Superstar Leo was named after a cruise ship but proceeded down the Newbury course at a rate of knots.
The capable jockey Michael Hills tracked the leaders on Superstar Leo and then went clear in the final furlong, winning the Super Sprint by a good three and a half lengths from the Hannon trained Elsie Plunkett.
Superstar Leo went on to finish second in the Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp and then claimed the European Champion Two Year-Old filly title.
Few will forget her blistering run for Wetherbys Super Sprint record in a time of 0.59.19 which got closer still to the elusive 59 seconds flat time.
Not bad for a horse who cost less than the average family car.

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