Tuesday's Meetings Yarmouth A/W 8 Races 1:30-5:30p.m. Glorious Goodwood Flat 8 Races 1:50-5:55p.m. Beverley Flat 6 Raced 2:10-5:00p.m. Galway Festival(E) Mixed 7 Races 4:50-8:15p.m. Ffos Las(E) Flat 6 Races 6:05-8:40p.m. Lingfield(E) Flat 6 Races 5:45-8:30p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
Glorious Goodwood - would love to go there one day. I always need to get the course map out on the longer races to work out where the hell they are going
I went to ‘Glorious’ Goodwood several times to see the Sussex Stakes. Train to Chichester, bus to the track. It rained on a couple of occasions and the big name milers that I went to see got beat a couple of times, so not all that glorious. In 1994, Distant View beat Barathea with Guineas first two Mister Baileys and Grand Lodge behind, Bigstone beat Sayyedati in 1993 with Zafonic nowhere but Marling beat Selkirk in 1992 in a photo finish.
I went there with my mum and dad when I was a kid. The only thing I can remember was a horse called Cuckoo Pint (I think), was fav for a sprint and got beat I also recall there was some other attraction (a miniature town or something). Maybe it was just a row of very small cottages. It was a long time ago
Dermot Weld having a quiet time of it at Galway this week. He is known for targeting the meeting for many years now but yesterday only 2 runners, 3 today and 2 tomorrow. Coeur D'Or might be his best chance today but his horses are usually over-bet at Galway so it will probably go off a false price - 15/2-ish as I am writing this (but some 10s available). Yaxchilan in the 18.40 looks way too short. Over at Goodwood the Vintage Stakes has had some of its gloss knocked off with the withdrawal of The Parthenon this morning but the Pinatubo colt Wolf Of Badenoch might be the one to take advantage. The Lennox stakes is intriguing as Kinross looks to bag his third win in the race - but he won't have Dettori to help him today and faces stiff competition from English Oak and Noble Dynasty. A nice looking Group 2 to watch and savour. In the Goodwood Cup Kyprios looks the proverbial good thing and should join an impressive list of multiple winners of this race. Good luck to anyone playing the handicaps - absolute minefield. Maybe worth considering the 3 from the Johnston yard as they always like to have a go at these races during the "glorious" week - Killybegs Warrior, Loyal Touch and Wadacre Gomez are all aimed at the 1.50 and are the yard's only runners of the day.
I was reading about that Zafonic defeat yesterday in Graham Cunningham's preview piece for Glorious Goodwood on the Sporting life website. Apparently Fabre warned everyone off him before the race due to the ground - "Zafonic was odds on after blitzing subsequent BC Mile hero Barathea in the Guineas but Andre Fabre was concerned about softening ground, resulting in an awkward PA announcement that ran along the lines of 'Zafonic will run in the Sussex Stakes but his trainer would like the public to know he will not be suited by conditions.'" I must say old boy Cunningham is becoming a bit lary in his old age - he used the "f" word a couple of weeks ago when writing about the dreadful events surrounding John Hunt's family, and in his latest piece he espouses: "Paris is putting on a grand show having boiled the piss of all the right people with its Opening Ceremony"
He did indeed warn punters off but that was not much good for those of us with an advance rail ticket and a pre-paid ticket for the day’s racing. I was at Newmarket when Zafonic won the Guineas in a canter but my photos of him winning were ruined by some cretin twenty yards down the rail from me waving his racecard at the horse right in my line of sight. Obviously he did not feature in the photos at Goodwood. Maybe before the Juddmonte there will be an announcement about City Of Troy beginning with the word ‘Listen’.
Given that Kyprios is one of the joint top rated horses in Europe with Timeform, it is little surprise that he is long odds on for the Goodwood Cup, so the race is of no betting interest. The supporting races offer a little bit more in the way of competition. With The Parthenon defecting (are they sending it back to Greece?), seven line up for the Vintage Stakes (2:25) and a case can be made for most of them. There are the unknown quantities. Wolf Of Badenoch won on debut at this trip and will presumably be late on the scene again under Spencer, if good enough to be in contention. Arabian Sun won at the second time of asking and now tackles seven but Hugo Palmer should have some idea how good that form was as he trained the hotpot that finished second at Salisbury. Last year’s winning yard fields An Outlaw’s Grace, who finished a respectable fourth in the Prix Robert Papin but his novice win at Salisbury was two seconds slower than Arabian Sun with the same weight. It is probably unwise to write off Karl Burke juveniles this season and Tiger Mask got off the mark making all at Ascot last time so he is likely to be upfront again today. Top rated in the race Electrolyte was second in the Coventry when unfancied but only fifth in the July Stakes so may have had his limitations exposed and now steps up a furlong. Cool Hoof Luke was fourth in the Coventry having been up with the pace and may be part of the pace angle today stepping up in trip. AOMORI CITY won easily enough on debut when expected and followed that with third in the July Stakes when just staying on at the end. I expect that the extra furlong today will be more to his liking having been unable to quicken as the race unfolded at HQ. Eight go to post for the Lennox Stakes (3:00) but it does not look hard to eliminate the three outsiders. Three year old Chicago Critic was third in the Jersey but needs to find a few pounds taking on his elders here and that might be a bit of an ask. Seven year old Art Power has never won over this distance and his best effort this year was arguably fourth in the July Cup. The veteran of the field Pogo has not won since 2022 and has finished behind two of today’s rivals on his last two starts. Tiber Flow won one of those races and cannot be completely ignored stepping up to Group 2 level but there is probably at least one too good for him in this line up. I think that we will be expecting Audience to try and make the running with Rab Havlin but he is anchored by his Group 1 penalty and other than his Lockinge victory his form is really only Group 3 and he was supposed to be the pacemaker at Newbury. English Oak has improved rapidly, winning a Haydock handicap off 90 followed by victory at Royal Ascot off 99. His official mark is now 108 but I think he is probably worth more than that so he should trouble the front two in the betting stepping into pattern company. Old boy Kinross needs to learn to start winning without Frankie and it is difficult to enthuse about his run in the July Cup where he never featured and finished behind Art Power. He has been in the first two in this race the last three years so horses-for-courses tells us to expect him to be involved in the finish; however, I prefer NOBLE DYNASTY, who beat English Oak giving him a stone at HQ before collecting the Criterion with something to spare with Pogo behind.
Some poor rides in that Lennox Stakes - the front 2 had way too much rope. Impressive from Audience though, giving weight all round.
I knew my bet was down when they had gone ten yards as Buick completely missed the kick on a horse that needs to be up with the leaders. You would think some of these jockeys hardly ever ride at Goodwood. A large part of the course is downhill so if you let the leaders go then they are probably not going to come back until it levels out in the last furlong or so. As you say, fair play to Audience, proving that slipping the field in the Lockinge was not a fluke. He was able to lay up with the sprinter and kick on when that one folded. I was quite amused afterwards by Chapman trying to get Gosden to commit to the Breeders’ Cup Mile and/or the Forêt.
