Hurricane bidding to give Johnson Houghton change of fortune in Super Sprint

Havana Hurricane will bid to put an end to Eve Johnson Houghton’s “incredibly unlucky” record in the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury on Saturday.

The Havana Gold colt provided his trainer with a second victory in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, following in the hoofprints of her 2021 winner Chipotle.

The latter was beaten into ninth place as a 15-8 favourite for the Super Sprint and Havana Hurricane could well be even shorter odds for this year’s renewal of the £250,000 contest.

“He is in great form, all he does is eat and sleep at home. We gave him a bit of work on Wednesday morning, he went very nicely and hopefully he is ripped and ready to go,” said Johnson Houghton

“I always thought he had an engine, but I wasn’t sure it was quite as good as the engine he has produced.”

The Didcot handler had the option of saving Havana Hurricane for Pattern events later in the summer, but she admits the lure of the huge prize-money on offer this weekend was too much to resist.

She added: “It’s a lot of money. It’s a race I’ve already wanted to win but I’ve been incredibly unlucky in it. Chipotle got wiped out when I thought he should have won it.

“The unluckiness rather put me off, but I’ve always wanted to win it and I think we have a horse here that if he doesn’t get bad luck, he should be there or thereabouts.

“There are horses in there who are having to give him weight despite being rated inferior, so it’s good conditions for him.”

Rod Millman has saddled two previous Super Sprint winners in Lord Kintyre (1997) and Bettys Hope (2019) and has unearthed another major contender in Anthelia, who has already proved a shrewd purchase for owners Middleham Park Racing, having won her first three starts after being purchased for just £6,000 as a yearling last summer.

She met with defeat for the first time when fifth in the Listed Empress Stakes at Newmarket three weeks ago, but looks to have every chance back in sales race company.

Millman said: “I thought she ran a sound race at Newmarket, giving them all 3lb.

“Five or six (furlongs) is fine, I think she’s pretty versatile really. She definitely stays six.

“She’s probably the classiest horse we’ve ever run in it and it’s been a very lucky race for us. We’ve won it a couple of times and been second a few times, so let’s hope luck’s on our side again.”

The Karl Burke-trained Ali Shuffle also won her first three races and was only narrowly denied the four-timer in a Group Three at Chantilly last month.

She was disappointing on her latest visit to France, finishing fifth as a hot favourite for a Listed event at Deauville, but Burke feels she was not at her best that day, saying: “We think she was in season in France, so we’re putting that down as an excuse.

“She’s worked well this week and goes there with some sort of chance, but it’s a bit of a lottery race.

“She’s in good order and it’s worth a go for that sort of money.”

Other hopefuls include Richard Hughes’s Windsor winner Our Cody and Cotai Belle, who has won her last two starts for Richard Fahey.