The Sprint Cup Festival returns to Haydock Park as a key feature in the flat racing season. Certainly one to ring off on the calendar, the picturesque racecourse in Merseyside provides a sheer spectacle and with supporters finally back in attendance with changes in the governments coronavirus policies, the festival will feel like a slice of normality after the majority of the last flat racing season took place behind closed doors.

With so much anticipation over this year’s event, the staple of the festival is the Sprint Cup, as so many horses are capable of winning. This year there are several favourites for those looking for winners with Smarkets horse betting touting Starmanto succeed. A plethora of talented horses have won this Group 1 race in recent years, read on as we go through the last four in ascending order.

2017 – Harry Angel

The first winner on this list, Harry Angel stormed to victory at Haydock with a marauding performance — silencing critics who questioned his ability to perform on wet ground. The Clive Cox-trained horse put in a great display despite the conditions, with jockey Adam Kirby lapping up the praise for his thoroughbred saying: “I’m a believer in a proper champion can win on any ground, but he’s so fast I was a little bit concerned. It’s a great team effort and all credit to Clive. I knew he’d won as soon as he picked up.

“He’s a machine. He’s got speed to burn and that’s not how good he is, he’s there now mentally and he’ll keep on getting better.”

2018 – The Tin Man

Despite entering as somewhat of an underdog in comparison to the favourite for 2018 renewal in Harry Angel, but after gassing out following a strong start, the perseverance of The Tin Man paid dividends as he captured success. Trainer James Fanshawe was delighted with the performance, saying:“He’s a wonderful horse and is so consistent. You could argue he’d been unlucky a couple of times this year.

“Everyone is biased towards their own horses, but I felt he’d run two really good races at Ascot and Deauville. I was concerned about the (heavy) ground, but the rest of the family love it. It’s easy to say after the event.”

2019 – Hello Youmzain

After denying The Tin Man back-to-back victories, Kevin Ryan’s Hello Youmzain went on to earn great success for the next season, with the surge of momentum winning him Royal Ascot glory in the Diamond Jubilee and runner up in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. The last winner to taste victory with supporters in attendance, Hello Youmzain won with a late victory and used it to kickstart a successful season.

2020 – Dream of Dreams

Saeed Suhail’s Dream of Dreams is the most recent winner of the Sprint Cup, with his title unfortunately overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, meaning racegoers were unable to attend and the title was earnt behind closed doors. He justified why he was the favourite, going into this race at 5/2 and pacing himself excellently to win by one and a quarter lengths.