Swift return to action being considered for Shouldvebeenaring

Haydock Sprint Cup runner-up Shouldvebeenaring could spring back into action for the Betfred Park Stakes at Doncaster on Saturday.

The Richard-Hannon trained colt was a 50-1 chance for the Group One at the Merseyside track – but took little notice of those odds when coming home just a neck behind the winner under Sean Levey.

The run was another gallant performance from the grey, who has a CV that includes two Listed wins and a good handful of Group-placed performances.

Notably he was second behind Coolmore’s Little Big Bear in the Sandy Lane earlier in the year and a return to the same track at Haydock backed up that run this weekend.

“We were absolutely thrilled with that performance, he was a 50-1 shot on the day but we didn’t have him down as a 50-1 chance in our minds,” said Tim Palin of owners Middleham Park Racing.

“We probably thought he might finish in the first five or six and pick up some prize-money, but when you look back he’d already been second to Little Big Bear and split him and Bradsell in the Sandy Lane when he went off at 11-1.

“The collateral form was there and is there, we’re absolutely trilled to provide his owners with a runner in a Group One and a horse that just got touched off in a Group One, which he did – he was trading odds-on to win the race during the final half-furlong.

“He’s a dual Listed winner and you’d like to think he’s a Group winner in the making, if we could make that a Group One or Group Two then who knows – you might have a stallion master or two picking up the phone.

“He’s a superstar of a horse, he tries his heart out.”

Connections have left the colt in the Park Stakes at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting on Saturday and a decision will be made later in the week as to whether or not he takes up the entry.

“We have actually left him in the in the Group Two at Doncaster, just in case he comes out of it bouncing,” Palin said.

“I’m sure Sean Levey will give him a spin on Wednesday or Thursday and we’ll make a decision about that race, we’ll see what the ground is going to be like as he does like good ground or quicker.

“There’s not a deluge and they’re not planning to water at the minute, if it did quicken up then it could just be tempting if we can get that Group win by his name.

“The horse’s well-being will be of paramount importance, whether he’s over his exertions from the weekend and ready to rock and roll again, but he’ll stay in training as a four-year-old anyway.”

Thinking ahead to the winter and to Shouldvebeenaring’s four-year-old campaign, Palin mapped out some targets in a season that could include a step down in trip to five furlongs.

He said: “We’ll campaign him in Group One and Group Two sprints with the aim of picking up an elusive Group One, he’s clearly a Group One performer and we want to make him a Group One winner.

“Meydan, possibly the Al Quoz, he could have a prep run and go out there for that fantastic prize-money and there’s always decent ground out there.

“He’s a candidate for that and all your normals, your Duke of Yorks, July Cups, Haydock Sprints, we might even give him a whizz at five.

“We need to explore five with him as well as he travels lovely over six and he’s strong through the line. A Nunthorpe might happen a bit quick for him, but an Ascot five or a Haydock five could suit him down to the ground.”