For all the Group race glory trainer Rod Millman has enjoyed he will forever be thankful to the Weatherbys Super Sprint, which he hopes to win for a third time at Newbury on Saturday with maiden Mapledurham.

Had it not been for the victory of Lord Kintrye (pictured) in the 1997 renewal of the valuable five furlong dash, which is open to horses that cost under £65,000 at a public sale, then his attention could have been switched to building houses opposed to training racehorses.

Twenty-two years after watching Lord Kintrye scorch up the turf at the Berkshire track under now retired Brett Doyle, the Devon handler was at it again in 2019 with 3,000 guineas purchase Bettys Hope.

Aside from his two wins, Millman has endured several near misses in the race, which was established in 1991, and has been sponsored by Weatherbys since 1993, including finishing second in 2022 with Woolhampton, who like Mapledurham, is owned by David Klein.

And while Mapledurham, who is one of 25 horses that remain in contention for this year’s £250,000 race, is yet to get her head in front in three starts to date, Millman believes the drop back from six furlongs will play into the hands of the Kodiac filly, who cost 38,000 guineas.

Millman said: “The Weatherbys Super Sprint has been very good to us. Had it not been for Lord Kintyre winning it back in 1997 I would have probably ended up doing something else as back then I only had about 12 or 13 horses in training and just the three two-year-olds.

“I’d have probably been a builder now if he hadn't won that day as back when I was a jockey I made more money buying a couple of houses and doing them up and selling them as that is what gave me my first capital to start training.

“This year we intend to run Mapledurham in the race and we hope that the drop back to five furlongs will improve her a little bit.

"She is a good, tough filly that has had three runs. Two have been good and one not so good, but hopefully she will put up a good show here.

“She finished third in a six-furlong maiden at Newbury on her first start and I always like to run them over six or seven furlongs first time as they learn more. She has shown plenty of speed in her races so this should be fine.

“Lord Kintyre was very special, but I’d say she would be better than Bettys Hope, although she will have to carry more weight than the 8st 4lbs she did.

“It is a good race for fillies as they get the five-pound allowance from the colts and you can often buy a better filly for the same money.”

Not only would the £122,925 on offer to the winner help bolster Millman’s prize money total for the year, but he believes it would go some way to making up for selling last year’s sixth Beenham, also owned by Klein.

Millman said: “David’s first runner in the race was Woolhampton, who actually ran well in a valuable handicap at Ascot at the weekend.

“He loves to have a runner in the Super Sprint as Newbury and Weatherbys always look after us well.

“I feel we were a bit unlucky with Beenham in the race last year as we were trying to keep Relief Rally in sight and the other side of the field got away from us.

“However, I dropped a bit of a clanger afterwards as although it was a good choice to buy her I then told David to sell her and she went and won the Italian 1000 Guineas this year!

“Hopefully we can make up for it this weekend with Mapledurham.”

Among Mapledurham's potential rivals are the hat-trick seeking Miss Collada, Thecoffepoddotco and Perfect Ruby, who will bid to give trainer Richard Hannon a fifth success in the race.

Windsor Castle Stakes winner Ain’t Nobody, from the yard of Kevin Ryan, could be given the chance to bounce back from his defeat in the Group 2 July Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday.

Andrew Balding won the race back in 2011 with Charles The Great and the Kingsclere handler could be represented by Mister McGregor on this occasion, while It Ain’t Two, who is part-owned by former footballer Michael Owen, is in contention to fly the flag for Hugo Palmer.