Hatton takes flight in Cup

Hatton Flight is looking to bounce back from a disappointing Royal Ascot in the bet365 Old Newton Cup at Haydock.The five-year-old parted company with his rider soon after leaving the stalls in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, but trainer Andrew Balding reports his charge to be none the worse and is hopeful he will run well."Obviously it was a concern at Ascot for him to gallop round the track loose, but he has put all of his weight back on and seems in good form," said Balding."He had a very good workout at Ascot anyway but hopefully he has recovered from that. Obviously he was progressive before Ascot and hopefully he is still well handicapped, but the draw would be a worry. He's drawn 17 of 17 and he's going to need a lot of luck from there."Luca Cumani is keeping his fingers crossed everything falls right for Falcativ. The four-year-old recorded two clear-cut successes at the end of the last campaign and picked up where he left off with an impressive display at Yarmouth on his comeback, but let down favourite-backers on his latest outing at Doncaster."It's a bit of a lottery, with so many runners, but if things go right for him then he might have a chance," said Cumani, who won the race 12 months ago with Mad Rush."There were a couple of things that didn't go right for him at Doncaster as there was no pace and the horse started pulling a little bit - he wasn't as relaxed as he should have been. Hopefully things go to plan."Clive Cox is double-handed in the race, with 2007 winner Dansili Dancer and the hat-trick-seeking Red Merlin both prominent in the betting."Red Merlin has done well, and is up in the handicap, but he is a bit of a tricky customer. He has to be produced exactly right, and things need to go right for him, but we hope a competitive race will suit him. We kept him fresh and didn't run him at Royal Ascot in order to keep him right for this."Dansili Dancer won this a couple of years back and ran really well to finish sixth in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot. He comes here in good heart and wouldn't want conditions to change a lot as he doesn't want it to easy. I'm delighted he's here taking his chance."