The draw for Saturday’s £250,000 Qatar Stewards Cup took place this morning at Goodwood Racecourse.
Hosted by broadcaster Nick Luck and Great British Racing ambassador Georgia Toffolo from Made In Chelsea, the 28 horses in contention for the six-furlong heritage handicap, due off at 3.40pm on Saturday, were each allotted a stall for the richest handicap at the Qatar Goodwood Festival.
The first horse out of the hat was the Karl Burke-trained True Mason and the trainer picked the middle stall (14) for the three-year-old. The son of Mayson is set to have his first run since wind surgery after finishing last of the four runners in the G2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock in May.
The Roger Varian-trained Flavius Titus is the 9/1 favourite with Unibet, official betting partner of the Qatar Goodwood Festival, for the £250,000 contest and connections chose stall 11 for the four-year-old son of Lethal Force. Flavius Titus has won two of his three starts this year, including last time out in a six-furlong event at Newmarket.
Andrew Balding’s Stone Of Destiny was the final horse out of the hat and the BBC Radio 5 Live’s horseracing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght, representing the Kingsclere handler, was left with stall 27.
Richard Fahey is launching a four-pronged assault on the Unibet Stewards’ Cup as he attempts to win the contest for the second time following Superior Premium in 1998. His quartet features Cosmic Law (stall 22, 14/1), Growl (stall 4, 16/1), George Bowen (stall 25, 25/1) and Aljady (stall 28, 33/1).
Discussing the quartet, Fahey said: “I’m very happy with the draw for all of my horses. Cosmic Law has been in good form this year and he remains open to further progression.
“Growl is so consistent in these big handicaps and will hopefully run well.
“George Bowen has a good draw. He needs to bounce back to form, but hopefully he can do so and this race could suit him, whilst Aljady has possibilities too.”
Unibet Stewards’ Cup, Unibet odds: 9/1 Flavius Titus; 10/1 Khaadem, Justanotherbottle; 11/1 Spanish City; 12/1 Gunmetal, Summerghand; 14/1 Arecibo, Cosmic Law; 16/1 Raucous, Baron Bolt, Gulliver, Growl; 20/1 Vanbrugh, Open Wide; 25/1 Ornate, George Bowen, Air Raid, Stone Of Destiny, Lake Volta, Soldier’s Minute, Embour, True Mason, Buridan, Kimifive; 33/1 Sir Maximilian, Aljady, El Hombre, Hyperfocus
Win / E/W
1/5 odds 1,2,3,4,5,6 (six places)
3:40pm £250,000 Unibet Stewards’ Cup (Heritage Handicap) 6f – Saturday, August 3 – Declared Runners & Draw
No/draw Horse Age/Wgt Trainer Owner Jockey
1 (16) Vanbrugh (USA) 4 9 10 Charlie Hills Khalid Abdullah Kieran Shoemark
2 (18) Raucous ts, p 6 9 9 (6lb ex) Robert Cowell T W Morley Cieren Fallon (5)
3 (24) Gunmetal (IRE) 6 9 6 David Barron Ne-Chance & Mr L O’ Kane Harry Bentley
4 (15) Ornate 6 9 6 David Griffiths Kings Road Racing Partnership Phil Dennis
5 (3) Khaadem (IRE) 3 9 6 Charlie Hills Hamdan Al Maktoum Jim Crowley
6 (25) George Bowen (IRE) v 7 9 5 Richard Fahey M A Scaife Tony Hamilton
7 (10) Baron Bolt bl 6 9 5 Paul Cole Asprey Wright Evans PJL Wilcock & Snook Rossa Ryan
8 (12) Air Raid 4 9 4 (6lb ex) Jedd O’Keeffe Caron & Paul Chapman Jack Garritty
9 (27) Stone of Destiny 4 9 3 Andrew Balding King Power Racing Co Ltd Silvestre De Sousa
10 (6) Summerghand (IRE) 5 9 3 David O’Meara Hamad Rashed Bin Ghedayer Ryan Moore
11 (1) Lake Volta (IRE) 4 9 3 Mark Johnston Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum Joe Fanning
12 (5) Gulliver ts, p 5 9 3 David O’Meara Withernsea Thoroughbred Limited Gerald Mosse
13 (11) Flavius Titus 4 9 2 Roger Varian Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum Andrea Atzeni
14 (20) Soldier’s Minute 4 9 1 Keith Dalgleish Weldspec Glasgow Limited Scott McCullagh (5)
15 (17) Embour (IRE) 4 9 1 (6lb ex) Richard Hannon SullivanB’Stock,RuxleyHoldings,Mrs Doyle Sean Levey
16 (9) Justanotherbottle (IRE) 5 9 0 Declan Carroll Steve Ryan & M J Tedham James Doyle
17 (21) Arecibo (FR) 4 9 0 (6lb ex) David O’Meara George Turner & Clipper Logistics Frankie Dettori
18 (13) Spanish City bl 6 8 13 Roger Varian Merry Fox Stud Limited David Egan
19 (14) True Mason 3 8 13 Karl Burke Khalifa Dasmal Ben Curtis
20 (8) Open Wide (USA) bl 5 8 12 Amanda Perrett George Materna & John McInerney Pat Dobbs
21 (22) Cosmic Law (IRE) 3 8 11 Richard Fahey John Dance P. J. McDonald
22 (23) Sir Maximilian (IRE) v 10 8 11 Ian Williams Paul Wildes Angus Villiers (7)
23 (28) Aljady (FR) p 4 8 11 Richard Fahey Al Shaqab Racing Thomas Greatrex (5)
24 (7) El Hombre 5 8 9 Keith Dalgleish Weldspec Glasgow Limited Andrew Breslin (5)
25 (26) Kimifive (IRE) 4 8 9 Joseph Tuite Richard Gurr Shane Kelly
26 (4) Growl 7 8 9 Richard Fahey Dr Marwan Koukash Callum Shepherd
27 (19) Buridan (FR) 4 8 8 Richard Hannon Al Shaqab Racing Tom Marquand
28 (2) Hyperfocus (IRE) p 5 8 8 Tim Easterby Ryedale Partners No 14 James Sullivan
MELLAH SQUEEZES FRANKIE FOR PRESS APPEAL
Frankie Dettori may be racing’s finest marketing tool, but an 18-year-old from South London who has never ridden in a race is giving the sport top billing in today’s newspapers.
Khadijah Mellah will become the first hijab-wearing Muslim to ride on a British racecourse when lining up in this afternoon’s Magnolia Cup (1.10pm) charity race at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, crossing more boundaries in one ride than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid during their retreat to Mexico. A human-interest story with horses is a big draw for newspaper editors, and Mellah’s willingness to engage with press interrogators, and pose for endless photographs, makes her a must-have across racing and news pages.
‘Making Goodwood Glorious in a hijab’ is a headline in The Times alongside a column by Valentine Low in which he writes: “As she prepares to go under starters orders at the Goodwood Festival she is challenging stereotypes about Muslim women.” Mellah, who rides the Charlie Fellowes-trained Haverland in the Magnolia Cup, tells Low: “From quite a young age I’ve just loved horses,” and while you won’t find many trainers looking for work riders in Peckham, the Ebony Horse Club, a charity in Brixton, proved the gateway to Goodwood.
‘Galloping into history, girl jockey who’ll ride in a hijab at Glorious Goodwood’ is the Daily Mail‘s spin on the story, which includes a photo of her in jockey silks standing outside Brixton Station – perhaps it was part of her ‘training’ for today’s race. Reporter George Odling quotes Mellah’s mentor, ITV Racing’s Oli Bell, describing his protégé as: “A titan, and an incredibly determined young girl who is proving it is possible for someone from her background to do this.”
The Daily Express offers ‘And she’s off! [not literally we hope!!] Muslim teen jockeys for place in history’, and while this and other papers carry a photo of Mellah in silks and crash hat, but holding a hairy cob better suited to pulling Steptoe’s rag and bone cart, we get the picture. ‘Hijab’s a first’ is The Sun‘s view, while The Daily Telegraph‘s headline ‘Meghan spurs on first female jockey’ refers to the teenager’s view that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is a “ground-breaking woman” and adds: “I would love her to watch me race.” ‘Ride stuff’ headlines the Daily Mirror‘s Mellah tribute, while the Racing Post offers ‘Brixton student in it to win it as she bids to break racing’s mould’. Kitty Trice, a member of the Racing Post‘s editorial team, will be among Mellah’s rivals today.
Frankie’s press domination may have a rival, but why should he care when he has ridden more Group One winners this season than many leading jockeys will manage in a career. As Jon Freeman puts it in i: “So what does Frankie Dettori do when he reaches 10 Group One victories inside two months? Turn it up to 11, of course.” Italy’s finest export to Britain tells David Yates of the Daily Mirror: “I’ve had an incredible summer . . .” while Paddy Von Behr of The Times writes: “It is a scarcely believable run for a man who first won this race 28 years ago.” Longevity is just part of Dettori’s appeal, but for anyone who does not know what he looks like riding a Group One winner at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Edward Whitaker’s large-scale photo on the cover of the Racing Post is a superb encapsulation.
His win on the John Gosden-trained Too Darn Hot in yesterday’s G1 Qatar Sussex Stakes was the latest top-level win, and provided another demonstration of his skills and current confidence, as he patiently waited for a gap, which, when it appeared was easily taken by his brilliant partner. ‘Frankie’s too hot to handle’ is the Daily Mail‘s summary above a review of day two by Marcus Townend, while The Sun‘s take is ‘Hot streak – Frankie fires in 11th G1′. The paper’s Steve Jones is among journalists who report that ace jockey William Buick is set to return to the saddle tomorrow evening at Newmarket after being sidelined with post-head injury syndrome which affected him in May. Dettori’s job just got harder.
‘Fab Frankie is Hot, Hot, Hot’, according to the Daily Star, and its correspondent, Chris Goulding, catches up with Dettori’s eldest son Leo, who admits bunking off work from his job in a London cocktail bar in order to watch dad do his thing. It seems a sense of the impish runs in the family. The Daily Star adds the jockey’s Qatar Sussex Stakes victory to its news pages under the headline ‘Frankie’s hot to trot’. Journalist Jack Andrews writes: “A horse owned by Cats creator Lord Lloyd-Webber made a purrfect day for Frankie Dettori.”
Also for Gosden, whose post-race honesty about mistakes made in plotting Too Darn Hot’s season was refreshingly honest in a trade where smoke and mirrors often occlude the truth. Greg Wood of The Guardian would be among racing journalists who appreciate Gosden’s truthful appraisal, but writes: “Self-flagellation comes a little easier when standing in the winner’s enclosure after one of the season’s most valuable events.”
Dettori can make it Group One number 12 of the season in today’s Qatar Nassau Stakes in which he rides Mehdaayih for Gosden. Jon Freeman of i believes the dozen will be achieved as does Pricewise in the Racing Post, but Chris Goulding of the Daily Express and Rob Wright of The Times opt for French Oaks heroine Channel, Jason Heavey of the Daily Star is a fan of Rawdaa, and Newsboy of the Daily Mirror sides with Hermosa. Marlborough of The Daily Telegraph concurs.