Glorious Goodwood

Day 1

Tomorrow we witness one of the highlights of the flat season with the 5 day Glorious Goodwood festival, which will be the first course to have an audience since the Covid 19 outbreak, although this will be for Saturdays meeting only.

There are some top class horses on show over the festival with Battaash, Stradivarius, Derby favourites English King and Kameko and a possible superstar coming over from Ireland in Siskin, so plenty of top class races to look forward to.

The 1345 looks a hot race with a strong field of 18 racing just over a 1 mile trip with Cape Cavalli and Darevo likely to fight out favouritism. Both are drawn high which has been a disadvantage at the course in the past although mainly over the shorter trips. The John Smith’s Cup could be the best indication of form for this race with FIFTH POSITION and Tinandali finishing witin 2 lengths of each other. Tinandali didn’t have the clearest of runs and may have well finished higher without trouble but Fifth Position looks like the value bet to me having also not had the clearest of runs. He has a decent enough draw in stall 10 and this slightly shorter trip and smaller field will help his chances. Roger Varian is in great form of late and they try first time blinkers on the horse tomorrow. I feel it has a real lively chance here with some luck in running. Alternative Fact also looks well handicapped and was also unlucky last time out when hampered.  A tough race to call, but we are siding with Fifth Position to get us off to a flyer.

1345 Goodwood- FIFTH POSITION @11/1 (1 Point e/w)

Battleground won the Chesham at Royal Ascot and is a beautifully bred horse from the Aiden O’Brien yard but probably too short in the market to be getting excited about. The form of that race doesn’t look anything special and although he won it comfortably enough, there may be better value elsewere in the race. The Superlative Stakes at Newmarket looked a pretty hot race, won by the Godolphin trained, Master of the Seas. Devious Company finished 2nd in that race with some other decent horses behind. The interesting bit of form here is that the 5th placed horse ‘Ventura Tormenta’ has since gone on to beat The Lir Jet who won the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. That makes the form look pretty strong and I think Devious Company could run a big race tomorrow. However I am going to take an outside chance on the Richard Fahey trained GORYTUS who was a debut winner at York recently. It beat previous winner Star Or Orion and favourite Jadoomi who finished 1 3/4 lengths 3rd to the previous mentioned Devious Company. The selection shaped really well on that run and to me looks overpriced at 22/1.

1415 Goodwood- GORYTUS @22/1 (1 Point e/w)

The next race could be a head to head battle between the 2 market leaders Space Blue and SAFE VOYAGE and I’m struggling to split the pair of them. Space Blue got the better of the 2 last time out by a neck with D’bai back in 6th. Space Blue has gone on to win in France again beating D’bai and looks sure to make another good account of himself. Safe Voyage bounced back from that defeat to break the course record in the Derby meeting at Epsom on good ground. I think the race will revolve around the 2 of them again and the only reason for my selection is the better value in the market and the draw advantage. Sir Dancealot has won the race the last 2 years, although hasn’t been firing so far this season and Pierre Lapin was a horse I liked a lot, although ran a stinker last time out. He would have a good chance if back to his previous form when winning the Mill Reef Stakes last year.

1445 Goodwood- SAFE VOYAGE @ 11/2 (2 points e/w)

The Goodwood Cup is the big race of the day which looks certain to be a face-off between Santiago and Stradivarius. Stradiuvarius was exceptional at Royal Ascot making a mockery of the field beating Nayef Road by a full 10 lengths and will be very hard to beat. Santiago looks the most likely following his Irish derby victory and we all know about Aiden O’Brien’s strike rate in the big races. He could be a major threat receiving a big weight from his rival. It’s a race best watched for me and the 7 runners makes little value for the each way markets although Eagle By Day could run a big race at 33/1

The Qatar Handicap will be a quickly run race with some real speed merchants on show and it’s difficult to know who will go off quickest. Acclaim the nation is a speedy sort and could lead the way from Stall 1 and Recon Mission ran well behind Nahaar last time out, he’s likely to be in the mix from stall 5. I however like the favourite CELSIUS for Tom Clover. He ran Han Solo Berger close on his last run and that winner went on to lose in a photo to Blue De Vega at the weekend. He is drawn wide, but I think that form can work out well here in a very quickly run race.

1545 Goodwood- CELSIUS @ 7/2 (2 Points win)