The horse racing broadcaster offers up five tips for Day 1 of the Goodwood Festival, including his pick for the feature race of the day, the Goodwood Cup.
Glorious Goodwood gets underway on Tuesday with the weather set to continue to be just that. The fields in the handicaps have stood up particularly well and there are certain to be the usual hard luck stories in the straight, especially later in the week when the cutaway rail gets removed.
The meeting traditionally starts with one of the oldest races in the calendar, the Chesterfield Cup, where LIBERTY LANE 12/1 (13:50 Goodwood) can go well despite a hefty weight. Well drawn to track the pace or lead from stall four, he ran well at Sandown behind Indalo and was eased another 1lb off the back of it. Liberty Lane has a touch of class, as shown by his Listed victory over course and distance last May, and the yard of Karl Burke are going well, 9/24 (A/E 1.42) over the last fortnight. He is also reunited with Clifford Lee who has an excellent record aboard him.
The first juvenile race of the week is the Group 2 Vintage Stakes, and the betting conundrum is whether to trust form pick Al Hudaiba, who is clearly anything but straight forward as anyone who witnessed his Yarmouth antics – where he shied abruptly for no obvious reason and unshipped Tom Marquand will testify. His Newmarket win also saw him drift over to the far rail so given the short price a better angle could well be to back PIKACHU 15/2 (EW Goodwood 14:25) each way to reverse the form. I am always keen to be against Johnston two-year-olds first time out as they often need the experience, so he caught my eye when only greenness cost him a debut victory at Thirsk behind the useful Alfred Wallace, who won a Listed race at Ascot last Friday. Pikachu has posted two solid efforts since, including when beaten just over a length by Al Hudaiba at Newmarket. He has a 3lb pull this time around and who knows how Al Hudaiba will react to having the blinkers fitted. A really nice mover with a lovely flowing action the track could really suit Pikachu.
LAKE FOREST 1/1 (15:00 Goodwood) looked unlucky behind Witness Stand in last year’s Lennox Stakes where he got hampered early. It was a strange race, with the front three appearing to slip the field and the winner never coming back to the pack. Lake Forest is a solid Group race performer who found the drop to 6f on quick ground not enough of a stamina test at Ascot last time. Even so that fifth place in a Group 1 is still a good enough effort to make him a worthy favourite here. With both Qirat (remember his Sussex Stakes pace making antics last year) and Witness Stand in the field, he should also have the race run far more to suit in this year’s renewal.
No doubt about the race of the day, a rematch between Trawlerman and SCANDINAVIA 10/11 (13:35 Goodwood) in the Group 1 Goodwood Cup. Trawlerman on his first run of the season gave it his all at Ascot but was just worn down by Scandinavia in the style that has become the trademark of his victories. Unbeaten since cheekpieces have been applied in last season’s Bahrain Trophy, his win the race 12 months ago from stable companion Illinois gave him his first success at Group 1 level. He was aided by the three-year-old weight for age allowance that day, which at this trip does seem to favour the younger generation at this time of year, so their absence from the field removes a potential stumbling block. It is also entirely possible that Illinois will ensure Trawlerman has some company up at the front to avoid any prospect of stealing away.
ITV coverage on day one closes with the first big field sprint handicap of the week, where in form Richard Spencer saddles no less than five of the 24 runners. Several have chances but the pick could be RAPPER’S DELIGHT 12/1 (16:10 Goodwood), the least exposed of the bunch, who has run well in handicaps at both Southwell and Newmarket this month. He was backed up quickly on both those occasions after an absence of 300 days and has not been too harshly dealt with by the handicapper. Of the other runners for the yard, Twilight Calls has been a cliff horse for me down the years, and The Man may be getting ready for a sprint at York’s Ebor meeting in which he finished second last year. Candy is much higher in the weights after his Redcar success on soft ground in the two-year-old trophy and Run Boy Run may just find the trip on the sharp side. There is plenty of pace on both sides of the track and this could be a race whose complexion changes markedly late on.
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