I had a much better time of things on the weekend with a treble on Friday at York, including a Listed winner for Richard Hannon. I then had a fourth winner of the weekend up at Newcastle. Let’s hope this run of form continues!
I am at Goodwood tomorrow to ride Onassis – the rain has come for her which we’re delighted with. I will be going into more detail on her chances in tomorrow’s blog.
As previously mentioned, the rain has come and they will start the week on heavy ground, which is a bit of a shame as there will be plenty of non-runners.
Tuesday: Day One of Glorious Goodwood
2:25 – Vintage Stakes
I have been riding out a fair bit at Andrew Balding’s this season and he’s having a wonderful time of it. Oisin is riding out of his skin as well and he looks as if he might run away with the Jockeys’ Championship. Their excellent winner of the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, BERKSHIRE SHADOW (5/4), returns today and takes on the Richard Hannon-trained LUSAIL who himself won the July Stakes at Newmarket. I’d be siding with Berkshire Shadow here; he showed a wonderful attitude as well as plenty of class when passing most of the field at Ascot and he can defy the 3lb penalty here.
3:00 – Lennox Stakes
This is a very specialist trip of 7-furlongs and I think Godolphin have a very strong hand here. CREATIVE FORCE (7/4) won the Jersey Stakes despite hanging across the track and he backed that up with an excellent run in the July Cup over 6-furlongs. He receives weight from his stablemate Space Blues, and I think that’ll prove the difference between the two. Elsewhere, I thought POGO looked overpriced.
3:35 – Goodwood Cup
The rain has come for Trueshan and Hollie Doyle who will relish the ground. It should be a fascinating race with STRADIVARIUS (15/8) looking to bounce back after his Gold Cup disappointment and I think he will do it. The ground will be fresh rather than testing, and that is what he won the Gold Cup on last year by 11 lengths. It would be an incredible feat to win it for a fifth time, particularly with crowds back! Fingers crossed for him.
Stay safe,
Hayley!