RACING:DEACON BLUES, impressive winner of the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh earlier this month, is set to miss Saturday's Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock after failing to sparkle in his final workout.
James Fanshawe’s charge ran away with the Group Three on his last start, scoring by seven lengths, but his handler was not satisfied with his work yesterday morning and the gelding subsequently scoped dirty.
The Charles O’Brien-trained Bewitched is a general 14 to 1 shot for the race.
Meanwhile, Leopardstown manager Tom Burke will bring his 25-year association with the track to an end at this weekend’s Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes meeting.
Burke is hoping for another memorable renewal of the Group One contest with So You Think set to go off a short price for the 1m2f contest. Watering has been taking place at the Dublin venue to produce perfect ground for the meeting while two tracks will also be used to give the top-class competitors the optimum surface to race on.
“This will be my last meeting after 25 years and I’m sure I’ll miss it. Racing has taken over my life so there’s no doubt Il miss it,” said Burke yesterday as he counted down to the weekend.
Dry weather has led to the taps being turned on and with no rain forecast until Saturday, Burke is keeping a close eye on ground conditions. “We are using two tracks and we watered the inner one yesterday, which is currently good, good to firm in places.
“The outer track was good to firm this morning so we are putting some water on that today to keep it right.”
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