Events / Paul Jacobs / 01 September 2009 /

Our man takes the long view on Saturday's feature race...

Water, the most precious commodity in the world, and yet we use it with gay abandon all over the place, Bath racecourse excepted. But it seems of late that tracks up and down the country get this itchy feeling in their hands on a regular basis to turn the taps on to the right and spread the flow.

The rule of thumb seems to be for racecourses to supply safe good to firm going when surely good ground should be the pre-requisite.

And in an attempt to shift away from the potential loss of meetings due to waterlogging, the grade one tracks in particular have employed such efficient drainage systems that the need to water and therefore the advent of false ground is a more likely scenario than it has ever been.

While Cheltenham very rarely experiences ground on the soft side of good, in the past a prerequisite for the NH specie, Ascot has a two tone ground track and Haydock has come into the mix with a specialist sprint track which drains so much better than the round course.

That means that the Haydock Park Sprint Trophy (this coming Saturday), more often than not a haven for the soft ground sprinter, is more likely to be run on ground on the fast side of good unless there is appreciable rain.

And for that reason the make up of this year's field is going to have a dramatically different look to the renewals of previous years.

Arguably the horse that would most benefit from the new track is Wokingham winner High Standing ([4.4]). He showed a quite devastating turn of foot on fast ground to win at the Royal meeting and has improved again since with victory at Newbury on soft ground against a much better class of horse.

His progressive profile is reflected in his mark as second favourite behind Fleeting Spirit ([6.0]) and just ahead of Finjaan.

The former has always been a natural speedster and it is hard to argue with her position at the head of the market. Furthermore, she will come here a fresh horse after a nice break since winning the July Cup.

The selection hails from the sphere that offers the hottest form line of the season, the 2,000 Guineas with Sea The Stars at the helm, and was mightily impressive in landing the Betfair Cup at Glorious Goodwood, form franked by the second and fourth since.

I remember watching him land his maiden from Ouqba at Newmarket over five furlongs as a juvenile and thinking what a natural speedster he was. If connections decide to go to Haydock he looks a very solid win and place wager.

The horse most likely to be inconvenienced by the new track is Main Aim ([8.2]). He needs some cut in the ground to show his best form on the return to arguably his optimum trip.

So in conclusion, on good or good/fast ground Finjaan ([6.2]) looks an interesting entry into the sprinting sphere which has no one outstanding individual; both Fleeting Spirit and High Standing having obvious claims at shorter price. If the rain comes in profusion at the track then Main Aim would be the softer ground alternative.

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