Crafty Spirit lands Beverley sprint, continues late-season revival
Crafty Spirit took the 4:23 Beverley sprint by 1¼ lengths, making it back-to-back wins and hinting his mark may not have caught him yet.
Crafty Spirit produced a second win in three starts when he landed the Connexin Gigabit Gallop Handicap at Beverley on July 14, a Class 6 five-furlong sprint on good to firm ground worth £4,004 to the winner. Barry McHugh gave the John Wainwright-trained five-year-old a patient ride and, after a slightly slow break, timed the move to perfection as Crafty Spirit powered clear by 1¼ lengths from So Grateful, with Golden Prosperity back in third in a 10-runner field.
That Beverley effort was more than just another handicap success. It followed a second-place finish at the same track on May 27 in the Racing Again This Saturday Apprentice Handicap, a race that has since begun to work out, and it came only a month after Crafty Spirit finally snapped a long winless run by taking the William Hill Extra Places Every Day Handicap at Wetherby on June 15, also on good to firm ground. He won that day by a head over 5 furlongs and 110 yards, a narrow margin that showed the horse was already finding his rhythm again. Now his form figures at the sharp end read 2-1-1, and his overall record stands at 22 runs, three wins, three seconds and one third.
The profile matters because Crafty Spirit is no longer running like the horse who was largely anonymous through eight starts last year. He is a five-year-old bay gelding by Invincible Spirit out of Crafty Madam, owned by Caballo Racing Two, and the shape of his recent races suggests his current mark is finally giving him a chance to strike. In both of his wins this summer, the pace worked in his favour: a strong gallop at Beverley let McHugh sit behind the speed and deliver late rather than ask the horse to improvise from a false tempo.
That is the real question now. Beverley may be the ideal stage for Crafty Spirit, because its sprint setup and his ability to settle behind honest fractions suit him better than a muddling pace ever will. If he keeps getting that kind of ride in five-furlong company, the handicapper may have to move fast to stop a horse whose confidence is clearly rebuilding as quickly as his form.
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