Nunthorpe and Sprint Cup options open for Regional

Ashley Iveson
July 23, 2024 1:57 pm

The gelding was fourth in the Hackwood having swerved the July Cup.

The Nunthorpe at York and the Sprint Cup at Haydock will be considered for Regional after his run in the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury.

Ed Bethell’s stable star rounded off his 2023 campaign by lifting the Sprint Cup on Merseyside and kicked off this season by finishing second in the Greenlands Stakes in Ireland.

The six-year-old also filled the runner-up spot in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot last month – and having sidestepped the July Cup at Newmarket on account of unsuitable ground, hopes were high he could regain the winning thread at Group Three level.

After forcing the early pace, Regional was eventually reeled in by the younger legs of a trio of three-year-olds in the impressive Elite Status, Lake Forest and Kind Of Blue, but Bethell feels his charge was far from disgraced in a race which was not run to suit.

“He’s come out of it well. It’s hard to say really, but they broke a track record and Quinault really blew the race wide apart and we got quite aggressive early on in the race which probably put paid to us in the last half-furlong,” said the North Yorkshire handler.

“Don’t take anything away from the winner, who was good and won well. Even if that hadn’t happened, would we have beaten the winner? I couldn’t be sure. I just feel that early pace duel might have put paid to our chances of finishing second.

“They went blisteringly quick – to break the track record at Newbury you’ve got to be pretty fast and they’ve got to be going a pretty end-to-end gallop, which is no one’s fault, it was just the way the race was run.”

While a defence of his Sprint Cup crown is clearly a major option for Regional, Bethell could be tempted to first head to the Knavesmire.

He added: “I’m going to leave him in the Nunthorpe and he’ll stay in the Sprint Cup and hopefully he’ll go for one if not two of those.

“I have a feeling that Sprint Cup could turn out to be hottest race of the year, whereas the Nunthorpe might open up a little bit.

“I’ll just see how he is over the next few weeks before making a decision closer to the time. Those are the aims and hopefully he’ll go for one of them if not two.

“There is also the Flying Five in Ireland, which is definitely an option as well if conditions allow.”