Goodwood Tuesday analysis: Graham Cunningham gamenotes

Kyprios the Golden Boy on a baking day at Goodwood

What do you do when a late withdrawal puts the kybosh on your carefully prepared Sussex Stakes script based heavily around previous Duels on the Downs?

Rosallion’s absence from Wednesday’s Goodwood highlight takes some the shine off a £1m mile but the ‘Five Things We Learned’ angle has bailed many a scribbler out in similar circumstances so here goes……..

Panama pundits purring

1: This was the day when Panama hat pillocks finally had the last laugh. Jacket off and sleeves rolled up under his stylish titfer, Ed Chamberlin looked like an umpire about to call ‘Play’ from the Nursery End as he anchored the ITV coverage, while Jason Weaver matched his smaller headpiece with a flamboyant Hawaiian shirt straight out of the Tommy Bahama collection.

I won’t lie, this bakingly hot day made me pine for a Panama for the first time in my adult life. And a swift Google search reveals that the good people at weddinghats4u are happy to flog me one that is ‘hand woven from 100% Toquilla in Ecuador by skilled artisans.’

Salute to those Ecuadorian artisans toiling away in the workshops of Quito. But at £119.99 plus postage and packing – I’m afraid you can keep it.

Audience leaves them (well most of them) wanting more

2: It’s time to quit with the AUDIENCE antipathy. The Gosden gelding has been on my personal list of ones to be wary of for a good while now and even his longtime ally Rab Havlin has admitted that he used to be ‘a little bit of a thug.’

I couldn’t have him under a G1 penalty in the Lennox but he pounced on the freewheeling Art Power after the two pole and stormed clear to give 5lb and a hiding to two good-class rivals rated 113 and 114.

Timeform’s handicappers will be sticking a big number against his name after this. And I’ll be sticking a squiggle on myself if I keep being daft enough to assume he still has those thuggish tendencies.

Absence makes the heart go stronger as Kyprios shines again

3: You can never take anything for granted where delicate thoroughbreds are concerned and Rosallion’s late setback will be a sickener for the Hannon team. But overcoming adversity adds lustre to the legacy of special horses and KYPRIOS’s return from a serious joint issue that required a big Ballydoyle team to teach him to walk and trot again gained further momentum with his runaway Goodwood Cup win.

Aidan insists that he was “only on the outside looking in” as the rehab progressed and only Uncle Tom Cobley (musty reference, I know) was left out as Liam, Eamonn, Fawzi, Donal, John, Steve, Dean, Aoife and Rachel all got a credit in the post-race debrief.

Joking apart, the shot of Kyprios’s chestnut coat gleaming in the sunshine as he was showered down after his sixth G1 success was one of the abiding images of day one. And you can only wonder what his CV might look like without that long injury break.

“He isn’t an Arc horse,” said Ryan.

But nor was the 2016 Gold Cup winner Order of St George. And he finished third and fourth behind Found and Enable when the Arc was going through its two-year Chantilly phase.

All’s Fair as Wind Blows the start

4: It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good. And it’s a foul wind that makes you feel stupid when one of the horses you fancy goes nuts in the stalls and the other you’re keen on doesn’t come out.

DEMOCRACY DILEMMA’s antics prior to the Coral Racing Club Handicap kyboshed one part of my Quinella ticket and FAIR WIND, perhaps upset by his antics, did a Hamlet Cigar job (even mustier reference) by standing stock still as the gates finally crashed open.

Panama hats off to Michael Dods – snagging another big southern dash after Northern Express’s weekend Ascot win – but hats back on to those who think that strongly fancied horses who plant at the gate should be declared as non-runners.

That theory is all well and good – until you back a winner and the wayward behaviour of some fancied but mulish rival saddles you with a 40p in the pound deduction.

Henry set fair for A Summer Day By The Sea

5: JOUNCY did his bit to polish the Frankel pedigree with a gritty success for Andrew and Oisin in the juvenile maiden and, thirteen years after the first Duel on the Downs, thoughts now turn to Sussex Stakes day and a supporting card that features several intriguing races.

I like HENRY LONGFELLOW before Rosallion came out and, given that he looks set for the saloon passage in a small field, the St James’s Palace Stakes runner-up should be very hard to get past.

SUBSEQUENT has looked good in steadily-run races and should be even better once his stamina is tested for Balding and Murphy in the opener at 1.50, while I’m bullish (geddit?) about AESTERIUS in the Molecomb (3.00) for the simple reason that he has the form to go very close and a cruising speed that should lend itself well to Goodwood.

One up-and-coming filly and another bang-in-form handicapper carry the other hopes for day two.

Watch the video of STOP THE CAVALRY bolting up off 87 at Chester and you might agree that Ralph Beckett’s filly could be an interesting longshot for her G3 debut in the Oak Tree Stakes at 2.25.

And watch the way ELLADONNA did no more than necessary to win a fair race at Salisbury and you’ll probably agree that a 3lb rise looks very fair with Ryan aboard for the first time in the fillies’ handicap at 4.10

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