by Graham Dench

Speed can be found running through the DNA of all Cunningham’s best winners and last year his Run Boy Run won the Ayr Gold Cup while Two Tribes took both Ascot’s International Handicap and the Stewards Cup, in which he had three of the first five.

The Super Sprint was always therefore going to be on the radar forthe stable’s more precocious two-year-olds, although what is surprising perhaps is that Cunningham has seldom been seriously involved in the race before, notwithstanding Cookupastorm’s very close fifth in 2018 and Odyssey Girl’s “brutal” bad luck in running 12 months earlier.

By coincidence Odyssey Girl is the dam of Etienne, who was a hugely promising second at Newmarket on his debut and was vying for second favouritism for Saturday's race when betting opened on Monday.

“It’s great prize money and we have two live chances I think, both home-breds by our Coventry winner Rajasinghe and out of mares who raced and won for us,” says Cunningham, whose boutique stables on Newmarket's Bury Road are in the very capable hands of trainer Richard Spencer.

“Etienne is a super horse and probably the best of our two-year-olds that we’ve run so far. He ran a super race first time out on the July Course at Newmarket, where I thought he was maybe a bit unlucky in a very close finish. That was six furlongs, but he’s got plenty of speed for five. We think he’s very nice and David Egan rides again, but with no rain around I just hope the ground is as well watered as they say it is. 

“Zigazig Ah is out of Rebel Surge, who was our first winner when we started Rebel Racing. She was second on debut at Lingfield, where she was caught by one that turned out to be decent, and she then showed she had come on massively for that by winning very impressively at Yarmouth. That was over six furlongs too, but we don’t have any worries about coming back to five and I think she’s got to be a live each-way chance with only 8st 4lb and Saffie (Osborne) on board.”

Cunningham first hit the big time as an owner with 2000 Guineas winner Cockney Rebel, and nearly all of his horses have names with pop connotations.

Zigazig Ah is in the lyrics to the Spice Girls’ debut single Wannabe, which topped the charts almost exactly 30 years ago. Etienne might have been named after the 1987 Eurohit of that name, which Wikipedia informs us was accompanied by a particularly raunchy video, but that’s not the case, as Cunningham hastens to explain.

He says: “One of my wife Emma’s favourite songs is Only Love Can Break Your Heart, by Saint Etienne, but that was too long for a name. When I tried for Saint Etienne instead I couldn’t have it, so I just went for Etienne.

"I'd bought the dam, Odyssey Girl, for Emma who loves greys, in an effort to get her more interested in racing. That didn’t work I’m afraid, but she did quite well for us and Etienne, another grey, is a classic example of breeding on a budget, as Odyssey Girl was bought cheaply in Ireland and Rajasinghe stands for only £3000.

“It’s great to be running for so much money on Saturday with horses bred on a budget like that.”

Few people have a better idea of what is needed to win a Super Sprint than Bint Archange’s trainer Richard Hughes, who was the long-time number one at the Hannon stable, which has been responsible for no fewer than 11 Super Sprint winners. He rode two of them himself - Monsieur Chevalier, a cosy half-length winner at short odds in 2009, and the subsequent Lowther and Cheveley Park winner Tiggy Wiggy, who routed the usual maximum field by six lengths five years later.

Bint Archange, a filly from the second crop of the shock 2020 Flying Childers winner Ubettabelieveit, looks a worthy favourite judged on her recent Listed win over five furlongs in Sandown’s Dragon Stakes, but we have to forgive her previous shocker in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, where she finished plumb last of 27. Hughes still can’t account for that, yet he is optimistic. 

“I think she’s got what it takes," he says. “She’s quick and she stays well, and she’s straightforward, so she ticks most boxes hopefully.

“At Sandown we pretty much knew at halfway that she was going to win, and she kept going, which is a good sign, but if you are asking me what happened in the Queen Mary I’ve still got no idea. 

“We’ve booked William Buick, who won on her at Ascot second time out but then couldn’t ride her in the Queen Mary. He knows her well, and that’s always a help.”

What of the Hannon stable this year? It might lack a stand-out like Monsieur Chevalier or Tiggy Wiggy, but it is numerically strong with four representatives in From Me To You, Call Me Tomorrow, Leucothea and Rollthedicebaby. The stable has won with less obvious candidates in the past, like Ginger Nut in 2018.

Rod Millman won the Super Sprint for a third time last year with the fancied Anthelia and he often punches above his weight here, but his Courage Best has plenty to find and may be his only runner after Devon Angel was made a reserve at the 48-hour declaration stage.

Other trainers with recent history here include Archie Watson, who won with Eddie’s Boy in 2022 and has definite claims with the Listed-placed Redcar winner Vollering and Thirsk winner Niewiadoma, and Jonny Portman, who won with Mrs Danvers a decade ago and has Past Passion and Holliesthedollie this time.

Henry Candy’s name is less familiar in races of this nature but his clutch of Group 1 sprint winners includes a very speedy two-year-old filly in Cheveley Park winner Airwave. His Harry Angel filly Angels Lane made a promising winning debut at Chepstow and is open to plenty of improvement.

Adam Kirby’s name would be another new one on the roll of honour as he never won the Super Sprint as a jockey and Bill The Bull will be his first runner in the race as a trainer. He has made a bright start to his training career and the Bath winner, who didn’t do himself justice behind Bint Archange at Sandown, could well be involved.