PRIOR to his win the in the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes last time, Tabdeed had been described in some circles as something of a flat-track bully.

His wins had either come in small fields or lower grades but at Newbury, the son of Havana Gold delivered a strong run from off the pace to mow down The Tin Man and mark himself out as a sprinter on the rise. Just how far he has risen will be measured by his performance in today’s feature event, the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock (3:25).

In some ways, his profile is similar to his trainer’s. Burrows has some serious strike rate figures to his name, operating at 21% on each of the two previous seasons and even this year his 19% figure is healthy by any trainer’s standards. That said, he failed to train a single stakes winner for his employer Hamdan Al Maktoum last season.

Tabdeed got that monkey off his back this season and wins for Hukum (Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes ) and most notably the juvenile Minzaal (Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes) have proved significant breakthroughs for Burrows.

Tabdeed, a five-year-old, has run just seven times, which tells you much of his story. However he was gelded in between this season and last and Burrows suggested that could prove to be the game-changer for him.

He faces 12 rivals today, three of which are three-year-olds. That age group has taken five of the previous six renewals of this six-furlong contest, despite only having a majority of the field numbers-wise on one occasion. Golden Horde looks best placed out of the three but he has already been beaten by his elders, albeit not far in the July Cup.

Hello Youmzain, last year’s winner, will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of this race amazingly since 1967, when Be Friendly defended his title. Kevin Ryan’s horse is two from two at Haydock and will handle the soft surface fine.

And yet the market still favours Dream Of Dreams, a horse who only gained his first group race win in 27 starts in the Hungerford Stakes last time out. That is a misleading statistic however as Sir Michael Stoute’s six-year-old has been beaten twice by only a head when finishing late and fast in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

He looked like a Group 1 performer in a Group 3 race at Newbury last time and he is another who could have improved for his gelding operation prior to returning this season. A combination of soft ground, this track and this trip could be perfect for him.

Read the big-race thoughts of Donn McClean and Rory Delargy on pages 58-59.

Opportunity to invest in Kentucky Derby hope

FANCY having a bet on tonight’s Kentucky Derby (12:01am)? Instead of just having a standard wager with your bookmaker, why not invest instead? For the first time ever, you can buy into a Kentucky Derby stallion prospect in 8/1 chance Authentic, essentially treating Bob Baffert’s colt as a stock, via the website myracehorse.com.

For as little as $206 you can buy a tiny share in the Into Mischief colt and not only will you have the horse through his racing career but also when he stands as a stallion at Spendthrift Farm.

The Kentucky-based stallion farm bought the breeding rights of Authentic in June and have made him available for investment to the public. When Authentic retires, each shareholder will receive a dividend on a yearly basis from his yearly earnings as a stallion. The yearly earnings are totaled by Authentic’s stud fee multiplied by the number of live foals born the following year (less fees and expenses).

This is an exciting initiative that looks to engage racing fans. It will be very interesting to see how it goes.

TODAY is take two for Enable’s final start in her home country. Initially, the 2019 Yorkshire Oaks was her last hurrah in Britain but Prince Khalid Abdullah did a U-turn after last year’s Arc and allowed the great mare to stay in training.

The contrast in atmosphere from today’s Group 3 September Stakes (2:35) and when she won the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks will be stark. At York, where some of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic racing fans attend, there was a carnival atmosphere to see off Enable; today there may be tumbleweed around the fields of Sunbury.

Enable probably has more to lose than gain today but the hope is that she can get through today’s race unscathed and the outing serves its purpose to set her up for her fourth Arc bid. She is a general 3/1 shot for the Arc, behind Love at 2/1.