The Tin Man bags the Sprint Cup at Haydock as hot favourite Harry Angel flops
James Fanshawe's classy six-year-old stayed on strongest in heavy ground to strike at 7-1
THE TIN MAN showed plenty of heart when winning the Sprint Cup at Haydock.
The six-year-old quickened up best on heavy ground to land the £300,000 feature at odds of 7-1, with the hot 6-4 favourite Harry Angel well-beaten.
The James Fanshawe-trained gelding usually saves his best form for Ascot, winning the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and British Champions Sprint at that course in the last two years.
He was third in the Sprint Cup behind Harry Angel 12 months ago, but with that rival returning from an injury lay-off he emphatically reversed the form.
Jockey Oisin Murphy was happy to bide his time towards the tail of the field on The Tin Man, as Harry Angel tanked along at the head of the field.
The short-priced jolly was still travelling strongly at the two-furlong pole, but he had no answers as The Tin Man swept by inside the final furlong.
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The admirable Brando (14-1) ran a cracker to take second spot, just ahead of Gustav Klimt (16-1) in third place.
Newmarket trainer Fanshawe, who had won the race previously with Society Rock in 2012, was thrilled to win another big one with the gelding.
Fanshawe said: "He's a wonderful horse and is so consistent. You could argue he'd been unlucky a couple of times this year.
"Everyone is biased towards their own horses, but I felt he'd run two really good races at Ascot and Deauville.
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"I was concerned about the (heavy) ground, but the rest of the family love it. It's easy to say after the event.
"It was a long last furlong, but he's won nicely. They went a bit quick and they got tired in front of him. He's seen the trip out well and is a very good horse."
The Tin Man has had a tough year, having suffered a serious illness when in Hong Kong for a big Group 1 in December.
Fanshawe added: "It's amazing because the vets in Hong Kong did a fantastic job. He nearly died in Hong Kong. He had a temperature and we couldn't run him.
"We got him back and the vets have done a great job getting him back again.
"We couldn't do it without our staff as well. They've done a wonderful job to get the horse to run in this race.
"I hope he's in one piece after this and then he'll go to Ascot (on Champions Day). He likes it there and he likes it here, too!"
The horse was trimmed into 3-1 favouritism for next month's Champion's Sprint at Ascot.