Before I get down to the horses, a little about the good and the bad of my day at Goodwood on Thursday afternoon (other than some frustrating efforts from my selections), while a reminder that I am a journalist and not a tipster!
Having paid for the best available tickets in to the Gordon enclosure (the dearer and better Richmond was sold out), I had a wander to see where the best views were (as well as the food and beverage outlets), and found I had a pretty good view and there were plenty of choices for grub and a beverage or two. As an “oldie” I was surprised to find that every outlet I visited was card only (I remain of a generation who still deals in cash) which took some getting used to, as did the planet saving £1 per plastic cup when you bought a drink – though if you returned the cup for each drink the £1 was waived from then on.
Call me a cynic (I have been called worse), but at the end of the day, how many punters queued up to return their cups to get their pound back, and how many left them behind as added profit for either the track or the outlets?
Watching the racing was fun, and there was plenty of space to spill out in to thanks to some decent weather, but you have to wonder why the demarcation between enclosures isn’t clearly marked, leaving plenty of embarrassed punters turned away by overly officious “jobsworths” that give our great sport a bad name. Add an entry IN the Gordon enclosure to the gin bar that was in fact blocked by yet more gate staff pointing out we weren’t allowed access, and the good in Goodwood becomes that little bit more mediocre (and more importantly I couldn’t get a decent gin, and had to pay 50% over the going rate for a beer instead).
Whinging over (for this week), I will revert back to my access all areas press badge next time, but will be reporting back to the HBF that there is still plenty to do if we want to make sure all racegoers have a decent time and equally importantly, are made to feel welcome.
On to the racing and I’ll admit I am tired out – so less to read and more to the point per race for the final day!
1.50pm – As if I have even the remotest chance of finding the winner of this six furlong handicaps that boasts a quite ridiculous 24 runners as if racing’s powers are trying to wind me up? Richard Fahey won this race in 2009 and 2012 and has an amazing SIX runners this season suggesting it is race he wants to win, but my 10p each way bet will be on Blue De Vega thanks to the eye-catching combination of sprint king trainer Robert Cowell and up and coming apprentice jockey Cieren Fallon who is good value for his five pound claim. The horse has won off higher marks and in better class and although no good thing seems to have a chance of sorts at a massive price.
2.25pm – From six furlongs to a mile and three quarters next, but still a fiendishly difficult handicap, though with the Mark Johnston yard in among the winners this week that may be a good place to start. Jockey booking make life all the more interesting with Frankie Dettori on board Charles Kingsley, but I will stick with King’s Advice and Joe Fanning. Five wins from his last six starts bodes well with his only defeat over further and on the all-weather at Newcastle, he has a course and distance win to his name from May which is encouraging, and an added seven pounds from the handicapper may not be enough to stop his winning sequence.
3.00pm – Anyone who doesn’t think a seven horse field is disappointing for a Group Two is wearing metaphorical blinkers, and it really makes me wonder why we sit and listen to owners moaning about the lack of prize money when they can’t be bothered for a race worth over £176,000 to the winner? Three-year-olds have won two of the last four runnings of this mile and three-quarter contest and I am hoping they can add to that via Aidan O’Brien’s South Sea Pearl. She may not be the best horse in the race with that honour probably falling to likely favourite Enbihaar, but she did win last time out over this trip at Leopardstown and gets a full stone for the Gosden filly which will hopefully swings things in her favour. She does need to reverse earlier Leopardstown form with stable mate Peach Tree but Ryan Moore keeps the faith and he should know a lot more than I do about their wellbeing on the Ballydoyle gallops.
3.40pm – Just the 28 runners to deal with here for the Steward’s Cup over six furlongs and if I was allowed ten selections I still couldn’t promise to find the winner! The Cieren Fallon/Robert Cowell combo team up again with Raucous who should go well in this big field as could Air Raid under a penalty, but a decision had to be made, and poor Baron Boltwill carry my pennies, again each way. Paul Cole’s six-year-old rounded off last season with wins over this course and distance and then at Ayr (in a dead-heat), and thanks to some below par efforts this year, he runs off just a pound higher now. Add first-time blinkers in to the mix (though he has worn cheekpieces before) and they may wake him up and see him back to something like his best, and if that assumption is correct, he has as good a chance as any here.
4.15pm– It really doesn’t get any easier does it. Just the eleven runners this time but it’s a maiden meaning we have a mix of horses who have raced and been beaten, and those yet to see the track. King Of Athens is probably the likeliest winner dropping back in to maiden company after being beaten just over six lengths at Royal Ascot in the Coventry Stakes in a race working out well enough with runner-up Threat running well on Thursday and fifth placed Golden Horde winning, and he looks by far the likeliest winner with any improvement. Smuggler did well here despite running in to traffic on his debut and is not to be underestimated while newcomer Persuasion arrives with a lofty reputation and is one to watch for future outings.
4.50pm – Seven furlongs await the three-year-olds in this handicap that sees the usual mix of those with the form already on their CV to win this, and those open to even more improvement. Marhaba Milliar is the one to beat if he improves at all for his seasonal return when winning at Yarmouth but the Dettori and Gosden factor look built in to his price and I have the narrowest of preferences for Land Of Legends. A winner when making all at Kempton he followed up from off the pace at Ascot suggesting he is tactically versatile and that may well be hugely to his benefit here. Callum Shepherd keeps the ride this afternoon for Saeed Bin Suroor and Godolphin and he ought to go mighty close if improving again to shrug off the added five pounds from the handicapper.
5.25pm – The final race of the 2019 Qatar Goodwood Festival and a .handicap too far as far as I am concerned. This time it’s the turn of the apprentice jockeys to taste the limelight and I may even end the day with some silly forecasts for the heck of it. Harbour Spirit could go close for jockey turned trainer Richard Hughes with Angus Villiers claiming seven pounds off the three-year old’s back while You’re Hired looks interesting in first-time cheekpieces, but they both could struggle to cope with Cieren Fallon on board Gifts Of Gold who won very easily on his return at Salisbury when taking his maiden. Clearly a late developer with just the three starts at the age of four, there may well be a shed load more to come over the months ahead, and a mark of 90 already looks more than generous in the circumstances.
Sean’s Suggestions:
Blue De Vega each-way 1.50pm Goodwood Saturday
King’s Advice 2.25pm Goodwood Saturday
South Sea Pearl 3.00pm Goodwood Saturday
Baron Bolt each-way 3.40pm Goodwood Saturday
King Of Athens 4.15pm Goodwood Saturday
Land Of Legends 4.50pm Goodwood Saturday
Gifts Of Gold 5.25pm Goodwood Saturday
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