Happy days for Hannon again in Super Sprint

Graham Clark
July 19, 2020 3:30 pm

Family domination of big Newbury dash continues.

Happy Romance returned to winning ways in convincing fashion to give trainer Richard Hannon his third victory in the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury.

Building on her solid fifth in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, the daughter of Dandy Man continued the Hannon family’s dominance of the five-furlong dash, which the Marlborough handler’s father Richard senior claimed seven times ahead of his retirement.

Travelling into the race powerfully for Sean Levey, the well-supported 100-30 favourite quickly pulled clear once putting the afterburners on and crossed the line two and three-quarter lengths clear of Jojo Rabbit.

Happy Romance was an emphatic winner of the Weatherbys Super Sprint (Edward Whitaker)

Hannon said: “She has improved all year and won that very well. If you have a look at her coming out of the gates she got knocked around a fair bit. She is a tough thing. Sean is adamant she wants seven furlongs. It is the owners’ first horse. I met them at Newbury for the first time just standing around.

“We need to keep new people coming into this sport and this is what this race is about. For them it is a lot of prize-money, it’s a big day and it’s on television.”

He added: “She ran very well at Royal Ascot and I thought it was a good Queen Mary. We might go to the Lowther (at York), but she is in a sales race in Ireland. She is definitely Group class.”