THE STAKES ARE HIGH ONCE AGAIN

Andy Newton looks ahead to a keenly-contested battle of the sprinters at Haydock

May is a busy month as the new flat turf season starts to ramp up a few more notches and another popular race towards the second half of May is the Group Two Temple Stakes.

The Group Two 5f Haydock contest always attracts some of the fastest horses around with the speedy Battaash winning in 2018 and 2019, while 12 months ago we had a royal winner as The Queen’s King’s Lynn gave trainer Andrew Balding his first winner in the race.

The contest will also give sprint fans some early clues ahead of the Group One King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June – the last horse to land both races in the same season was the Clive Cox-trained Profitable, while King’s Lynn was seventh in the Ascot race 12 months ago.

So, what are the main Temple Stakes trends to look for?

UK Trained Horses – In 2011 we witnessed the Irish-trained Sole Power win this Group Two, but away from that it’s the UK yards that have dominated – winning the last 10 renewals.

Trip – The race is run over the minimum trip, so it’s no surprise that most of the recent winners had been successful over this 5f trip, with 18 of the last 20 winners past 5f victors.