Hurricane bidding to give Johnson Houghton change of fortune in Super Sprint
The latter was beaten into ninth place as a 15-8 favourite for the Super Sprint, however, and Havana Hurricane could well be even shorter odds for this year's renewal of the £250,000 contest.
A dream come true for the owners ❤️
Havana Hurricane STORMS late to win the Windsor Castle Stakes 🏆#RoyalAscot | @Ascot pic.twitter.com/XmZyOynGPW
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) June 18, 2025
'He is in great form, all he does is eat and sleep at home. We gave him a bit of work on Wednesday morning, he went very nicely and hopefully he is ripped and ready to go,' said Johnson Houghton
'I always thought he had an engine, but I wasn't sure it was quite as good as the engine he has produced.'
The Didcot handler had the option of saving Havana Hurricane for Pattern events later in the summer, but she admits the lure of the huge prize-money on offer this weekend was too much to resist.
Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton has high hopes for Havana Hurricane (John Walton/PA)
She added: 'It's a lot of money. It's a race I've already wanted to win but I've been incredibly unlucky in it. Chipotle got wiped out when I thought he should have won it.
'The unluckiness rather put me off, but I've always wanted to win it and I think we have a horse here that if he doesn't get bad luck, he should be there or thereabouts.
'There are horses in there who are having to give him weight despite being rated inferior, so it's good conditions for him.'
Rod Millman has saddled two previous Super Sprint winners in Lord Kintyre (1997) and Bettys Hope (2019) and has unearthed another major contender in Anthelia, who has already proved a shrewd purchase for owners Middleham Park Racing, having won her first three starts after being purchased for just £6,000 as a yearling last summer.
Anthelia (left) winning at Sandown (Adam Davy/PA)
She met with defeat for the first time when fifth in the Listed Empress Stakes at Newmarket three weeks ago, but looks to have every chance back in sales race company.
Millman said: 'I thought she ran a sound race at Newmarket, giving them all 3lb.
'Five or six (furlongs) is fine, I think she's pretty versatile really. She definitely stays six.
'She's probably the classiest horse we've ever run in it and it's been a very lucky race for us. We've won it a couple of times and been second a few times, so let's hope luck's on our side again.'
Ali Shuffle (right) on her way to victory at Chester (Nick Potts/PA)
The Karl Burke-trained Ali Shuffle also won her first three races and was only narrowly denied the four-timer in a Group Three at Chantilly last month.
She was disappointing on her latest visit to France, finishing fifth as a hot favourite for a Listed event at Deauville, but Burke feels she was not at her best that day, saying: 'We think she was in season in France, so we're putting that down as an excuse.
'She's worked well this week and goes there with some sort of chance, but it's a bit of a lottery race.
'She's in good order and it's worth a go for that sort of money.'
Other hopefuls include Richard Hughes' Windsor winner Our Cody and Cotai Belle, who has won her last two starts for Richard Fahey.
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an hour ago
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Anthelia comes out on top in Super Sprint thriller
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2 hours ago
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The Devon handler credits the valuable two-year-old contest as salvaging his career when winning it for the first time with Lord Kintyre in 1997 and after striking again with Bettys Hope in 2019 was making it a hat-trick with the Middleham Park-owned filly – who was picked up for a bargain price of £6,000 as a yearling. Anthelia was sent off the 6-1 co second-favourite and looked booked for second when Eve Johnson Houghton's Windsor Castle Stakes victor and 6-4 market leader Havana Hurricane burst onto the scene inside the final furlong. What a finish to this one! Anthelia wins the Weatherbys Super Sprint Stakes! 🥇@NewburyRacing |@EDMUNDZZ98 | @millmanracing | @MprUpdates — ITV Racing (@itvracing) July 19, 2025 Regular partner Lewis Edmunds was also conjuring maximum effort from the daughter of Supremacy, though, and after showing the blistering speed that had been a hallmark of her campaign to date, Anthelia stuck her head down to be rewarded with a short-head success. 'I didn't know if she had got there and she had to make a bit of ground inside the final furlong as Eve's horse got first run on us,' explained Millman. 'I don't try to buy cheap horses, I try to buy nice horses cheaply. She's a lovely filly to be involved with and we're so lucky to have a nice filly like this. 'It's a wonderful race for any trainer, but especially the small trainers and it kept me in business many years ago when I was struggling and then won it with Lord Kintyre. After that people sent me horses and we've been fine ever since. Anthelia denies Royal Ascot winner Havana Hurricane to scoop the Weatherbys Super Sprint for Rod Millman and @MprUpdates — Adam Morgan (@Adam_Morgs) July 19, 2025 'We always try to have a nice horse for it and I've spent a lot of money on entry fees as the trouble is you have to enter them before you know how good they are. So you're sort of running for your own prize-money, but if you're lucky enough to have the right horse it's a great race. 'My wife always says, what's mine is half hers and what's hers is hers, so she'll enjoy this.' Connections had deliberately skipped Royal Ascot after landing Sandown's Listed National Stakes earlier in the season, but suffered disappointment when trying six furlongs for the first time in Newmarket's Empress Stakes last month. However, having bounced back with a lucrative £134,092 haul, Anthelia could now go in search of further sales race bounty before dipping her toe in at a higher level. 'We'll probably go for Harry's Half Million (York, August 21) and then there's some nice Group races later in the season,' said Millman. 'The Empress went wrong last time, but she's a good filly and proved it today. It wasn't that she didn't stay in the Empress, she was just in the bad position but it wasn't the jockey's fault, it was my fault as I gave the instructions and I gave myself a good telling off afterwards. 'I think she's quite nice, but it is always another ball game taking on the big girls. She's effective over five and six furlongs and once you start trying to go further you've got to be a better class again to be effective at that distance, but I have not ruled it out.' Johnson Houghton, meanwhile, could potentially seek immediate compensation at the Qatar Goodwood Festival with the runner-up having been thwarted in her continuing quest for a first Super Sprint victory. Johnson Houghton said: 'I'm thrilled but gutted is the best way of putting it, it's my unlucky race. 'I'm pleased for Rod but gutted for us and I think if we hadn't had the rain he might have won, but I can't possibly say that as there is no way of knowing and the winner is a very good filly. 'She's a Listed winner, we're a Listed winner and they should have finished like that really as they are two good horses and two cheap horses we have done well with, so clever us – aren't Rod and I clever. 'We might as well have a look at Goodwood now, but I don't think he wants soft ground as it just dents his turn of foot. I don't know if we'll go go five or six furlongs just yet, I need to have a think about it.'
