Course specialist Rhoscolyn (11/2) continued trainer David O’Meara’s excellent recent record in the Coral Golden Mile, adding to the victories of Prompting in 2020 and Orbaan in 2022.
With stable jockey Daniel Tudhope replacing Jason Hart, Rhoscolyn raced in midfield before coming with a strong challenge alongside Ebt’s Guard and Real Gain over a furlong out.
The trio had it between them on the run to the line, with Rhoscolyn finishing best to score by a length. Ebt’s Guard (11/1) was second, with Real Gain (12/1) a length further back in third.
This was Rhoscolyn’s sixth win at Goodwood and his second appearance of the meeting, having finished down the field in a seven-furlong handicap on Wednesday.
O’Meara said: “Rhoscolyn is a real, old Goodwood specialist and this is probably the biggest race he could win down here. It is nice to see that he has won it and it’s great for The Horse Watchers. It is the old adage ‘horses for courses’ and he probably enjoys the contours of the course more than most. I would say the lads might not have run him on Wednesday had we known how much rain was going to come yesterday.
“Rhoscolyn seemed to get a nice pitch from his draw [3] and they didn’t go very fast from what I could tell. I was fairly comfortable watching it. I always thought Danny was going to get there. I was just trying to watch what was coming out of the pack. It was a great ride, nice and simple, and the horse did what he does here and ran well.
“We have a lot of runners in these races, so our strike rate is actually pretty poor. When owners want to run in them, we let them take their chance. Danny can pick what he wants to ride and let the best horse win.
“Chris [Dixon of The Horse Watchers] only lives a mile away from me as the crow flies, so it would be a bad job if he didn’t have a horse with me! There is a £100,000 handicap back here at the end of August, over seven or a mile, and Rhoscolyn will come back for that.”
Tudhope said: “I was leaning towards Rhoscolyn or Bopedro but David put me on Mirsky. He usually gets it right, but that is the problem when you have so many in the race. He gave me the choice this morning when Mirsky came out and I went with Rhoscolyn.
“We had a good draw [3] and he relaxed nice. David was concerned about the mile, but he has won here over the mile before. I was very happy throughout. We got a lovely gap and he showed a nice turn of foot. When he gets those gaps, he really tries for you.
“Rhoscolyn has won around Beverley as well and that’s up and down. He has been a great horse for us over the years and deserves a big race like this. He is a bit tricky, things need to go right for him, and I think a track like this gets him thinking more – he is turning all the time and that helps him.”
William Muir, co-trainer of Ebt’s Guard, said: “He cost five grand and is an absolute star. He won the Spring Cup at Newbury and was unlucky not to be placed in the Royal Hunt Cup, when we were drawn in the middle and got too far back. Last time in the Bunbury Cup, people said he was disappointing but, if he hadn’t been hampered, he would have been third. He takes everything you give him. I am really proud of him. I did not enter him at York because that was the only place he ran badly last year. He could run in Racing League and I will put him in the Cambridgeshire – he finished sixth in it last year.’’
Real Gain’s trainer Richard Hughes said: “On good ground, we might just have done it. In the soft ground, he probably just got jelly legs in the last 100 yards. We are thrilled with him. He hadn’t run for a year. He had bone soreness, so we had to give him time off. He will go straight to the Cambridgeshire.’’