Betfred Temple Stakes: "She has to go there with a good chance"

Jonathan Portman is confident Rumstar can improve significantly on his only previous outing at Haydock when contesting Saturday’s Group Two Betfred Temple Stakes.

Fifth in the 2023 Commonwealth Cup, the son of Havana Grey finished down the field in the Sprint Cup on Merseyside later that year, but returns to the north west looking much more like the finished article.

Having been gelded last spring, he performed with credit in several big handicaps before a Listed success at Ascot and returned to action this term with an excellent Group Three triumph in Newmarket’s Palace House Stakes, storming past reopposing runner-up She’s Quality at the furlong pole.

Portman said: “He’s very well, we’re very happy with him at the moment. He came out of Newmarket very well, he seems in good form and we’re looking forward to running him.

“We don’t want too much rain, but we were very pleased with his last run, the speed he showed and how he came out of it.

“We knew he was well, he finished off last year in fine style and you don’t always get the same thing on a different day, but we were very happy with him.

“Obviously we know he runs well there, and Ascot he acts well at – his last trip to Haydock didn’t go that great but hopefully he’s in a better place in himself at the moment.”

Mgheera also made an impressive five-year-old debut when producing a smart turn of foot to land the Group Three Prix de Saint-Georges at ParisLongchamp on her first start for Ed Walker, where Electric Storm, another on reopposing duty, was back in sixth.

Four times a winner for French trainer Manon Scandella-Lacaille, she was also placed behind Bradsell at Deauville and was considered good enough to contest the Prix de l’Abbaye last October.

Walker said: “She’s done really well since she’s joined us and obviously got off to a great start at Longchamp a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s a quick turnaround and I’m sure lots of people will be worrying about her bouncing, but I think with sprinters you can back them up quicker.

“She seems to have taken it very well, she’s fresh and well and she has to go there with a good chance on the back of that form and performance.

“She’s got to have a go, the track and trip will be ideal and I think there have been stronger renewals. She’s a battle-hardened sprinter now, so there’s nothing to lose.”

Last year’s Portland winner American Affair gets a deserved step up in class following further handicap victories at Musselburgh and York this term for Scottish trainer Jim Goldie.

Kevin Ryan’s Washington Heights was a beaten favourite in fourth behind Rumstar at Newmarket but previously picked up £70,000 for a runner-up effort in Qatar and was far from disgraced in Group One company at York, the Curragh and ParisLongchamp last season.

Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint scorer Starlust makes his seasonal reappearance for Ralph Beckett, while Fozzy Stack’s Grande Marques, who was placed in Group races at Ayr and Newmarket at the end of her juvenile campaign, makes it a two-pronged raid from Ireland in company with Jack Davison’s aforementioned She’s Quality.