If there is a more beautiful racecourse in Britain – or perhaps anywhere – than Goodwood on the Sussex Downs, I would be surprised.
Nestled amongst the rolling hills and not far from the sea coast – where the mist can sometimes make visibility difficult depending on the time of year – the track certainly merits the epithet of ”Glorious Goodwood” for its major fixture of the year, which comes at the intersection of the high summer months of July and August.
Linen suits, panama hats and light summer dresses may be de rigeur, and while the meeting is undoubtedly a social highlight of many peoples calendar it is also a key milestone in the journey of the racing year.
Purists would argue that its five day duration could probably be cut to four or three days as not every race is chock full of high quality competitors, but you surely can’t blame the track and British racing authorities for trying to capitalise on the weather at the time of year and the fact that many people are on holiday. They have to do something to boost their coffers in an industry which is being hard hit by the cost of living crisis, the impact of affordabilty checks on gamblers, the low prizemoney and the lack of competitiveness of so many lower grade fixtures.
This is the time of year in European racing where Britain slows down for a few weeks ahead of the big York Ebor fixture towards the end of August and attention switches to Deauville in France.
But it would be remiss not to reflect on some of the stand out performers from Goodwood, including the game Australian mare Asfoora, who once more performed with credit for her owners and Ballarat based trainer Henry Dwyer.
Top of the bill must go to the excellent Aidan O’Brien trained stayer Kyprios, who followed his Ascot Gold Cup victory with a win in the 3200 metre Goodwood Cup, breaking the track record by some three seconds in the process.
The Goodwood Cup has had a bearing on the Melbourne Cup before with several of it’s past winners coming to contest the big Flemington feature three months later: of those the 2001 winner Persian Punch fared best, finishing third twice in Melbourne in 1998 and 2001.
Kyprios won’t be following in his hoofprints: he is now Europe’s pre-eminent stayer and O’Brien has done an excellent job in getting him back on track following a long injury lay off which surely cost him even more long distance triumphs.
He could now go for the Irish St Leger, but a plethora of long distance events in England, Ireland and France look his for the taking later in the season.
Asfoora certainly enhanced her reputation with a flying finish (she did meet with interference in running) which only saw her narrowly go down to the three year old sprinter Big Evs, who is no slouch having won the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita last November and triumphed at both Royal Ascot and Goodwood earlier in his two year old career.
Dwyer intends to run his raider in the Nunthorpe Stakes, another group 1 1000 metre dash, at the big York Festival and many punters fancy her to reverse the form if she can get a clear run in the hands of Oisin Murphy.
The big mile race of the carnival, the Sussex Stakes, was robbed of it’s lustre by the defection of the pre race favourite Rosalian but the race still provided a memorable contest which saw 2000 Guineas winner Notable Speech get back to winning ways.
The Godolphin colt had bombed out when favourite (behind Rosalion) at Royal Ascot in the St James’ Palace Stakes and needed to do something special to re-establish his rather tarnished reputation at Goodwood.
He did so in fine style and now his trainer Charlie Appleby (well known in Australia for his Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter) will set his sites on the Breeders Cup meeting at Del Mar in the US later this year.
The highlight of this weekend’s English racing is the Shergar Cup – a meeting that the public finds enjoyable but serious punters usually swerve as it involves teams of riders from all over the world who are drawn to ride their mounts for trainers whom they may never have met.
Sydney based English born rider Rachel King will be flying the flag for Australia and captaining the Rest of the World riders team while Shergar Cup stalwart Hayley Turner, will once again lead the Ladies Team, hich has enjoyed plenty of success in this event.
At the Curragh Aidan O’Brien will be looking to annexe yet another two year old group 1 race when Whisteljacket contests the Phoenix Stakes, but the Ger Lyons trained, Juddmonte owned Babouche could make life interesting for the favourite.
Attention switches to France on Sunday when the main feature will be at the seaside track Deauville, where John Gosden’s Inspiral is seeking rehabilitation after two disappointing runs this season.
She runs in the group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois where she will be partnered by Ryan Moore. He has replaced Gosden’s recently appointed stable rider Kieren Shoemark for this race as debate amongst the UK racing fraternity continues as to whether the younger Shoemark will retain the Gosden job in the long run.
Shoemark’s was never going to be an easy task given that he replaced the now US based Frankie Dettori, and defeat on a couple of high profile Gosden runners in major races has only given his critics more ammunition. However, the trainer has voiced his support, so it will be interesting to see if Moore can conjure any improvement from Inspiral.