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Glorious Goodwood day one preview: No touching Stradivarius in Goodwood Cup

Glorious Goodwood is here and although it may be a slightly different affair to recent years, there is still plenty of top class racing ahead this week. Steven Dowler has the action covered all week and has written his Glorious Goodwood day one preview with the £7,000 Boosted Place 6 up for grabs. Read on and join his Syndicate.

 

Glorious Goodwood day one preview

 

13.10 – Fillies’ Handicap – 1m

A very open-looking Fillies’ Handicap in which plenty can stake a claim to get the Glorious Goodwood day one preview underway.

John Gosden saddles the promising WASAAYEF who will be ridden by Jim Crowley. She has yet to finish outside the top-two in all three career starts and despite having an absence of 311 days to overcome, her form entitles her to be right in the mix if fit enough first time up. She showed plenty of promise and talent to be beaten only a neck on debut before going one better next time out when beating the useful Alpen Rose. But arguably her best performance to date was on her final outing last year, for which she was attempting to concede 6lb to Queen Daenerys, and went down fighting by a neck in second place.

The winner has gone on to advertise the value of the form by finishing an excellent fourth in the Epsom Oaks off a rating of 103. That clearly puts into perspective what John Gosden’s filly achieved that day and an opening handicap debut mark of 93 makes her extremely well-treated in contrast to that previous outing. On the face of it, she’s a Group horse running in a handicap and I’d be extremely surprised if she doesn’t go close to winning this race on her return to action.

Richard Spencer does well at this track and his runner ALABAMA WHITMAN should be given plenty of respect dropping down significantly in class. She’s often been highly tried in pattern-company, including when a close-up fourth in last year’s Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot. She invariably needed her seasonal reappearance when down the field in the Sandringham Stakes back at Royal Ascot and improved for that run with a decent fourth in a class 2 event off a mark of 93 when last seen. The 2lb drop in the weights and class can be recognised as a welcome addition to one of the main reasons of supporting her today along with Oisin Murphy back on board. Her position in stall 8 should also be envisaged as a positive, therefore, she offers plenty of value in this wide-open contest with an actual chance of winning it.

Meanwhile, another much-improved filly is the William Haggas-trained TOMORROW’S DREAM continues on an upward curve of form having split three horses rated 98, 90 and 97 in a similarly-competitive last time out when second. Admittedly – this is a much deeper race, but she’s going the correct way and a similar effort today should see her very competitive under the in-form rider Tom Marquand.

Selections: WASAAYEF, ALABAMA WHITMAN, TOMORROW’S DREAM

 

13.45 – Handicap – 1m1f 

We have another fiercely-competitive handicap on our hands, so I’m happy to throw in four selections on our ticket.

The David O’Meara-trained TINANDALI has an excellent chance of placing. He remains one of the least exposed in the line-up, and having been highly tried when trained in Ireland, he’s shaped with plenty of promise on all three starts for his new connections, placing second and third respectively on his first two outings off marks of 100 and 102 under big weights. He was heavily involved in a red-hot contest last time out when fifth of 22 in the John Smith’s Cup despite being endured a luckless passage and a repeat of the same form entitles him to the utmost respect in this similarly competitive race off the exact same mark.

SUCELLUS sneaks in here at the bottom of the weights making him an even more interesting selection from a betting perspective. He was unlucky when third here last year under top-weight 9-10 off today’s mark of 97 when trained by John Gosden and since then hasn’t had a clear run of things, especially on his two most recent starts for Roger Fell, including when keeping on strongly to finish 7th of 17 runners over seven furlongs at York under hands and heels. Having said that, he’s left connections with plenty of optimism going forward and the return to this longer trip will see him in much better light along with the experienced David Egan taking over the reins.

As I’ve stated previously on more than one occasion, this horse will win a valuable pot for connections at some point when everything falls in place for him and today could be that day given he’s carrying nearly two-stone less than he did last time out which come over an inadequate trip. I just think he has an ideal set-up here and providing he can break away from the stalls better, he must have strong claims of exceeding his ridiculous market expectations. You could not fail to conclude that he’s shaped with plenty more to give on his last couple of starts so hopefully today he can get a clear run and demonstrate what I’ve hoped he can do.

Hugo Palmer’s RED OCTOBER holds leading claims bringing an unexposed-progressive profile to the race having yet to finish outside the top three on all starts. Ben Curtis rides and there should be plenty more to come from this well-treated four-year-old. FIFTH POSITION should also be thereabouts and can’t be dismissed. He finished two places in front of Tinandali last time out when third in the John Smith’s Cup and interestingly remains on the same mark. All of his form has plenty of substance to it, so with that being said, you’d like to think he can go well again here.

Selections: TINANDALI, SUCELLUS, RED OCTOBER, FIFTH POSITION

 

14.15 – Vintage Stakes – 7f 

This is a very competitive renewal of the Vintage Stakes as you could make a case for bundles in the race. DEVIOUS COMPANY sets the standard here representing the Tom Dascombe and Richard Kingscote combo. He doesn’t win easily, but knows where the winning post is having won his first couple of outings at Haydock from the front before chasing home the potential high-class Masters Of The Seas in a Group 2 at Newmarket when last seen. His speed figures and ratings is much higher than what Battleground has achieved despite that one winning at Royal Ascot last time. From a punting and form perspective, Devious Company is the better value and he’s expected to be hard to beat with the form of his latest second working out extremely well.

Mark Johnston has a good record in this contest and it’s quite significant to see Frankie Dettori retain the ride on KING ZAIN from when they teamed up to finish sixth in the same Group 2 contest that Devious Company competed in when last seen. It should be recognised that he wasn’t beaten that far considering he was bumped at the start and endured traffic problems at a crucial stage of the race. It is highly unlikely he will suffer the same fate in today’s contest given he’s drawn nicely in stall 3. With that being said, King Zain is well worth another chance, especially reflecting on his very impressive debut success at Kempton which marked him up as a potential top-class horse for his shrewd handler.

On the other hand, Andrew Balding’s YOUTH SPIRIT should go well with more improvement to come. He wasn’t far behind Devious Company on debut who had the benefit of experience. His assured and likeable attitude saw him get off the mark at the second time of asking when beating two Godolphin team-members at Newmarket on soft ground. The better ground here shouldn’t pose a problem, and any horse Oisin Murphy rides is always worth a second look.

Selections: DEVIOUS COMPANY, KING ZAIN, YOUTH SPIRIT

 

14.45 – Lennox Stakes – 7f 

SIR DANCEALOT has won this race for the last two years and should be given the utmost respect on that fact. David Elsworth has obviously trained him for the race again so it would be foolish and a huge concern if we were to leave him out of our preview knowing he loves the track and will relish the forecast ease in the ground. Although he’s definitely going on our ticket for place purposes, preference is for the admirable SAFE VOYAGE who seems to be getting better with age despite now being a seven-year-old. He ticks a lot of boxes for this race and doesn’t know how to run a bad race.

Safe Voyage went close to winning a couple of Group 1’s towards the end of last season and reappeared with a fine neck second behind Space Blues at Haydock when conceding race-fitness. Safe Voyage made good use of an excellent opportunity when winning on Epsom Derby day last time and he’s drawn favourable in stall 1 here in comparison to Space Blues who is in stall 10. He’s joint top-rated in the race at 114 and if he can show his trademark early speed, I can envisage him reversing Haydock form with the Godolphin runner by gaining another big-race pot for his Yorkshire based-yard who does well at this course.

One horse who I have put under the microscope after close examination of his previous form is the outsider GRAIGNES who I’m surprised is available at around 33/1 because for sure, he has the ability to at least reach the frame in today’s race from a form perspective. He had previously been highly tried in pattern-company when trained in France, placing in multiple Group 3, Group 2 and Group 1 contests against high-class opposition. He’s only attempted seven furlongs twice in his career to date, for which have both come at the highest level.

The first of those couple assignments was in the Poule D’essai Des Poulains Group 1 Stakes and he finished a creditable fourth behind Persian King. In fact, that form has been well-advertised by the two British raiders he split in third and fifth – San Donato and Duke Of Hazzard who subsequently finished second and third in a Group 1 behind Mohaather. That form alone basically puts Graignes alongside most, if not all on collateral form and is overpriced for today’s race whatever way you look at it.

His other try at the trip was in the Le Buffard Jacques Le Marois Group 1 Stakes and he finished an encouraging fifth behind Romanised, another subsequent winner. Since those two courageous runs in defeat, he went on to run creditable races in more Group 1 and Group 3 races and would have needed his stable debut when interestingly tried at the sprint cup in Riyadh. That run should have taken the freshness out of him, and if he can replicate his top-level french form following recent wind surgery, he could prove dangerous at such a big price and with the booking of Adam Kirby being no negative.

Selections: SAFE VOYAGE, GRAIGNES, SIR DANCEALOT 

 

15.15 – Goodwood Cup – 2m

The featured race of day one in the Glorious Goodwood day one preview. This race should be all about the defending champion and three-time winner of the race STRADIVARIUS who proved some of his doubters wrong when an ultra-impressive 10-length winner of Ascot Gold Cup when last seen. John Gosden’s six-year-old is clearly one of the greatest stayers in recent memory and has just one danger this year who is the Irish Derby winner – Santiago. The great stayer has to concede lumps of weight to that rival, but he’s the clear top-rated at 125 and has been top of the stayers division for a long time.

Having said that, he’s still relatively young at the age of six for this division. You can obviously make a case for Santiago who will get 13lb from Stradivarius, but he’s unproven over this distance albeit connections have always believed he will be at his best over extreme distances. My gut feeling and honest opinion is that he was all out to beat Tiger Moth in the Irish Derby over much shorter, so I’m happily going to stick with the defending champion who has been there and done it on more than one occasion against proven top-class stayers each time and is taken to win again.

Selections: STRADIVARIUS 

 

15.45 – Handicap – 5f 

Once more, another typically-competitive race on today’s card, but I’m hopeful we have all angles covered.

FINAL VENTURE is very well-treated here having won and placed multiple times in similarly-competitive races off higher marks in the past and he’s drawn nicely to get a good lead into the race before pouncing late on the scene. He will love conditions, has strong C&D form and has every chance of gaining a much deserved success for his consistent level of form over the years. CELSIUS will relish the forecast ease in the ground and was a winner at this meeting last year. His form figures over 5f under similar conditions reads 2, 1, 1, 1 and 1. Tom Clover’s four-year-old remains on the same mark as last time and looks set to go close to winning this while enhancing his fine strike-rate.

The yard of RECON MISSION have an excellent record in this race and this speedy-type could well enhance that fine statistic. He looked on the way back to form when showing loads of speed over six furlongs at Newbury last time out, so the drop back to the minimum distance looks a good move by connections. He’s still very well-treated in comparison to last year’s form at this sort of level which gives him a solid place chance to round off the Glorious Goodwood day one preview.

Selections: FINAL VENTURE, CELSIUS, RECON MISSION

 

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