Qatar Goodwood Festival Friday preview: Big-race entries and horses to follow
By Ben Linfoot
20:16 · SAT July 27, 2024
We look through the six-day entries for the fourth day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival and pick out a few names to note.
Can Asfoora back up her Royal Ascot win in the King George Qatar Stakes?
Asfoora was well on top at the line in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot, underlining the opinion the Aussie sprinters are simply operating at a different level to their European counterparts.
After all, she’s considered to be about the 10th best sprinter Down Under, yet she was able to dominate the day one sprint at the Royal meeting following a powerful performance that saw her blast away from Regional and Big Evs in the closing stages for a length win.
The stiff five at Ascot clearly suited her that day, though, and not only is the five furlongs at Goodwood much quicker but she now has a Group 1 penalty to saddle, as well.
That makes things tougher and for all that she could be the best of the Group 2 King George Qatar Stakes field in terms of pure ability, the nature of this unique test brings last year’s Molecomb winner, Big Evs, right back into things.
He’s far from the only threat in a race bubbling with possibilities, but if Asfoora can see off this lot on this track off this weight, then she probably deserves a better moniker than ‘the 10th best sprinter in Australia’.
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Will fancied Native Warrior make the cut in the Golden Mile?
It looked very unlikely before the five-day declarations came through with Native Warrior number 47 on the list in a maximum field of 20, but plenty have come out leaving Karl Burke’s three-year-old a tantalising number 27.
As Lloyd Christmas put it ‘you’re telling me there’s a chance’ and while the participation of Native Warrior looks significantly more likely than one in a million it looks like he’ll still need a bit of luck to sneak in the feature handicap.
However, he might get in now and if he does he must have an excellent chance of glory considering he’s a three-year-old seriously on the improve following a super third in the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot where he was the first of 10 in his group.
He only went up 3lb for that and while that might well ultimately see him miss out on a place in the Golden Mile, if he does get in he looks the sort of potential Group-class three-year-old that can take full advantage of the 7lb weight-for-age allowance.
Will Force be up to the Task in Bonham Thoroughbred Stakes?
Ralph Beckett’s Task Force looked sure to make a splash as a three-year-old following a lovely launchpad of a juvenile campaign which culminated in the Group 1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes where he was runner-up to craic two-year-old Vandeek.
By Frankel out of Special Duty, it’s no wonder destiny saw him take part in the 2000 Guineas and a respectable seventh in a hot renewal suggested all hope was not lost as far as his 2024 season went.
However, he has made just the one start since then when seventh again in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot, a slightly underwhelming effort, so the fourth day of Glorious Goodwood has become a big day for him.
He runs in the Group 3 Bonham Thoroughbred Stakes back over a mile, a race that launched the career of Baaeed three years ago, and we’ll be entering no excuses territory with him now.
Hopefully he can bounce back with a win, as he looked a colt of some potential on his final start at two and it would be a shame were he not to fulfil that promise in his three-year-old campaign.
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