Sky Bet Sunday Series: Spring Is Sprung scoops £100,000 bonus

Spring Is Sprung scooped the £100,000 Sky Bet Sunday Series bonus with a pulsating triumph at Haydock Park.

The six-year-old, trained by Paul Midgley and owned by John Blackburn, stuck on tenaciously under Jason Hart in the closing stages of a fiercely competitive Sky Bet Extra Places Handicap to scoop the spoils.

Despite being friendless in the betting at 15-2, Spring Is Sprung was  never far away on the stands' side and wore down Night On Earth in the final strides amid great celebratory scenes.

Having already won Sky Bet Sunday Series races at Newmarket and Chelmsford this year, he earned his connections the six-figure bonus with what was his third success in a Series that has six fixtures.

Spring Is Sprung was emulating Letsbefrank, who landed the bonus about this time last year.

First prize on Sunday was more than £15,000, while Spring Is Sprung’s earlier wins at Newmarket and Chelmsford had been worth about £27,000 to his connections.

So, in total, the gelding, who had a rating of just 72 in May, has won more than £140,000 from the sponsors in the past three months.

This was a superb piece of training by Midgley, who had Spring Is Sprung trained to the minute after 70 days off. 

He had initially lined up for a tilt at the bonus at Hamilton last month but withdraw him because of the soft ground.

Blackburn said: “He’s done well, hasn’t he? Jason has given him a peach of the ride and said he had more left in his tank.

“This Series hasn’t been on my radar, but we put ourselves in a position to win £100,000 and he's gone and done it. I’m well chuffed.” 

He added: "This is fantastic for Midge [Paul Midgley] and all the team. He gave him two or three prep runs before Newmarket, then he won at Chelmsford despite drifting like a barge. That gave us the opportunity, and he's pulled it off."

Hart said: “I was happy when I saw the [high] draw and kept it simple. It was a brave call by Paul to pull him out at Hamilton last time [because of the soft ground] and train him for this one.”