Racing: Bluff will be called into action at Haydock

Coastal Bluff, who dead-heated with Ya Malak in the most dramatic race of the season, York's Nunthorpe Stakes, will try to take an exclusive place in the spotlight when he lines up for next Saturday's Group One Haydock Park Sprint Cup.

A snapped bit may have robbed the gelding of outright victory at York, but his trainer, David Barron, said yesterday: "How could we know whether he would have won it outright? Who's to say that the tackle swinging round his chest didn't make him run faster?. In past years Coastal Bluff has improved as the season has gone on and I'm hoping it will happen again.

"It does look a tougher race than York and it won't be the end of the world if he doesn't win though it would be marvellous."

Coastal Bluff, who will again be partnered by Kevin Darley, now seems to give his running on any going. "He won the Stewards' Cup and Ayr Gold Cup on fast, yet it was on the soft side at York so I don't think any ground will be a problem him," Barron said.