Qatar Goodwood Festival preview and talking points

Nudging noon while driving past Nick Luck’s alma mater Papplewick School on the last Saturday in July and, with the Olympic coverage ticking away on the radio, it feels like the golden glow of a memorable Royal Ascot is a fading memory.

Big bookies are warning of breaking point in their row with a large chunk of British racecourses; my old RP Editor Alan Byrne has returned to scribbling with a fiery focus on why British racing’s leaders are set up to fail; and the bloke who should be covering the swimming for 5 Live is a long way from Paris.

A punishing King George falls to a longshot French gelding who circles the paddock like someone recovering from a hip replacement and plans to meet pals from HK after the World Pool show are thwarted with a text that reads “there was a massive scrap right where we were sitting so we’re abandoning ship."

But, if the last few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that we need to appreciate great stuff that’s there if only you look for it.

Paris is putting on a grand show having boiled the piss of all the right people with its Opening Ceremony; racing is centre stage every Friday night on terrestrial telly; the weather is set fair at a racecourse that makes it easy enough to forget your troubles; and the menu for this year’s Qatar Goodwood Festival is handsome.

K-Team carrying the day one torch

Kinross and Kyprios top the Tuesday bill as they bid to win the Lennox and the Goodwood Cup for a third and second time respectively.

Wednesday sees crack milng three-year-olds Rosallion, Notable Speech and Henry Longfellow bang heads in a Sussex Stakes that many (well, just me for now) are calling the Truel (yes, that is a real and appropriate word) on the Downs.

Them Gosden boys are seeking redemption when their tarnished G1 gals Emily Upjohn and Inspiral go in against the emergent Opera Singer and Sparkling Plenty in Thursday’s Nassau Stakes.

And the latest scrap in the sprinting crapshoot comes up on Friday when Aussie raider Asfoora tackles old rivals Big Evs and Believing and new 1000m shooter Jasour in a King George Qatar Stakes that has all the makings of a 4/1 the field affair.

Top it off with another fiendish sprint puzzle for Saturday’s Coral Stewards’ Cup and we have five days of fantastic sport to look forward to.

All we need to do know is find some way of crowbarring racing into the Olympics!

Gus (and Aidan) running out of excuses

You know I’m usually here for most of Aidan’s imaginative explanations for a big-race defeat.

I part bought the theory about Gus being messed around early in a monsoon-hit Guineas but last year’s King George blowout was harder to forgive.

So was the Sheema Classic no-show this spring and the bizarre ‘speed wobble’ in the Tatts Gold Cup; and I’m having an even tougher time believing Auguste Rodin found the ground too soft and loose in one of the fastest King Georges on record.

A cursory glance at the enervating splits is all that’s needed to realise that Gus (along with fellow multiple G1 winners Rebel’s Romance and Luxembourg) was simply parked too close to an overly searching pace.

In the hope of proving that point, I am urging someone (I’m looking at you Jamie Lynch, Graeme North and Simon Rowlands) to do some split-screen analysis comparing Saturday’s race with the fiercely-run 1975 King George that saw Grundy hit the line in a similar final time to Goliath.

Such an exercise might just show that Messrs Moore (Gus), Buick (Rebel’s Romance) and Lordan (Luxembourg) were simply outflanked by the canny Christophe Soumillon.

But, in the meantime, the question for Gus is simple: What next?

Fabre flags it up

A repeat win in the Irish Champion Stakes would help revive Japan Cup dreams but maybe Aidan should consider taking a leaf out of his French equivalent’s book and get his excuses in early - make that very early - in future.

The passage of time (31 years, to be exact) has somewhat dimmed the memory of what happened as I reported for Timeform after rain hit Goodwood ahead of the Sussex Stakes in 1991.

Zafonic was odds on after blitzing subsequent BC Mile hero Barathea in the Guineas but Andre Fabre was concerned about softening ground, resulting in an awkward PA announcement that ran along the lines of 'Zafonic will run in the Sussex Stakes but his trainer would like the public to know he will not be suited by conditions.'

Zafonic duly trailed home well behind fellow Frenchie Bigstone and never ran again after breaking a blood vessel. As for Gus, maybe he’s just been unlucky. Or maybe, as his name suggests, he’s just a bit of a Thinker.

Either way, Auguste Rodin now needs careful managing to avoid doing further damage to a stallion CV peppered with wins in five of the world’s biggest middle-distance races and and blowouts as favourite in four others.

How long is a piece of Stringhalt?

It’s a rum do when two of France’s best chances of keeping the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on home soil can’t even run in the race because they no longer have everything God first gave them.

The ban on geldings like Goliath and high-class stablemate Calandagan running in the Arc is a debate for another day but the time for a ‘Top 5 Stars with Stringhalt’ is here and now.

Goliath comes straight in at number one and his case of exaggerated hind limb flexion is a prime example of the condition.

But the 2019 Preakness Stakes hero War Of Will was another notable stringhalt citizen, so much so that his trainer Mark Casse said that “when you see it sometimes, you’re there with your mouth open.”

My thanks to fellow SL Podcast contributor Billy Nash for nominating crack chaser Native Upmanship and high-class John Oxx stayer Pugin as further examples and to ace race caller John Blance for recalling Shotgun Willy, who used to hobble his way round the paddock before grinding his way to a string of major jumps wins for Paul Nicholls a couple of decades ago.

More G1 success for Shoemark looks possible

The Gosden/Chapman double act is a staple of ITV coverage these days and the banter was mighty before and after Friendly Soul’s dynamic return to form in Saturday’s Valiant Stakes, with Big John graciously conceding that Kieran Shoemark’s cold trot in big races this summer hadn’t been "entirely his fault".

The word entirely seems to be doing a fair amount of lifting in that sentence but the good-looking Friendly Soul was a highly impressive best supporting player in Saturday’s show, making useful fillies look second rate and banishing memories of her Musidora sidewinder act.

It’s well worth recalling that Lady Bowthorpe’s win in the Valiant Stakes helped propel Shoemark firmly towards the big league in 2020.

A half-sister to three G1 winners, Friendly Soul might just prove as good as the subsequent Nassau heroine Lady B in time.

And, with the tide seemingly turning, what price Shoemark lands the same race again aboard the supplemented Emily Upjohn on Thursday?

Mercury rising in more ways than one

Enough of the weekend chat and on to the best way to get Goodwood off to a flyer.

Kyprios speaks for himself at skinny odds in the Cup and I’ve looked at the Vintage Stakes from every angle without much inspiration.

Recent evidence suggests Kinross could have his hands full against Noble Dynasty and English Oak in the Lennox but Tuesday could be one of those days when handicaps offer the value options.

Tradition dictates that I start the QGF by opposing an out-of-form Lord Riddiford before he dances home in the Coral Racing Club Handicap.

The remarkable Quinn grey is bidding to win Tuesday’s dash for a fourth year running but the highly progressive stalk and pounce sprinter FAIR WIND tops the short list here with the Lord’s stablemate JM JUNGLE and aptly-named speedball DEMOCRACY DILEMMA as backup.

DUAL IDENTITY looks a sporting longshot in a difficult opener but you’re never too far away from a fillies’ handicap at Goodwood and CIRCE and MERCURY DAY both catch the eye in the 5.20.

Three-year-olds with a low draw (last year’s soft ground stampede was an outlier) have a very strong record in this mile contest but this pair have much more than trends in their favour.

Circe is firmly on the up after following a couple of luckless efforts with a narrow yet decisive Newbury success, while Mercury Day showed a telling turn of foot to win a steadily-run race at Newmarket and the fact that she doesn’t represent flash connections means she might fly under the WP radar here.

Published at 1652 BST on 28/07/24

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