Highlights from the first days at Glorious Goodwood
More then 100,000 people come through the gates of the Glorious Goodwood on the five most important days of English horse-racing. The event, held this year from 27 to 31 July in the picturesque Sussex Downs, has already offered many racing highlights in its first few days leading up to the biggest draws of days four and five.
The first day held the Betfair Cup and the Gordon Stakes, two strongly contested races. The Cup was lost by race favourite Dalghar, when Lord Shanakill, jockeyed by Tom Queally, challenged the favourite in the last furlongs to force him down to third place behind Cat Junior.
"He's a classy horse and people forget he's a Group One winner," said Queally.
Lord Shanakill, trained by Henry Cecil, entered the cup at 13-2.
"We tried him at a mile, he ran in the sprints, but at the end of the day he's a seven-furlong horse," said Queally. "It's a tricky sort of distance because it's in-between and the races aren't there most of the time. The last day at Chester did his confidence the world of good. He takes a couple of strides to go through the gears, but once he got there he was flying."
The Gordon Stakes was also hotly contested. Rebel Soldier, owned by Jeremy Noseda, won the race, followed by Dandino and Arctic Cosmos, the trio finishing in betting order. The race also saw an accident which proved fatal to Film Score, jockeyed by Frankie Dettori. Flim Score had to be put down.
The opening race of the day was won by the James Given-trained horse Indian Days by half a length. Given also trained Dandino, the runner-up in the Gordon Stakes, the second race of the day.
"We came agonisingly close to doing the double,” said Given to BBC Lincolnshire. “It would have been lovely for Dandino to have won five races in a row but it's still been a good day for us. What we've seen today is a wonderful performance by a horse who's got a definite chance of winning in September."
The second day of Glorious Goodwood saw Rip Van Winkle fail to defend his last year’s win at the Sussex Stakes, the race taken by favourite Canford Cliffs. Cliffs entered the race at 4-6, and Rip Van Winkle held the lead until the final half-furlong, when jockey Richard Hughes released the full force of the winner. Premio Loco finished in third.
"He's improved by 10lb and he actually ran a bit rusty there, he never got into full flight,” said Hughes. "I didn't want them to half-jump because we were downhill, so I missed the break completely because there were only seven of us and I could get him in behind. Rip Van Winkle nicked a length out of me, but I know how good he is. My horse pricked his ears in the last 100 yards and was in command."
The Goodwood Cup, the oldest of the races, originally held in 1812, was won by Illustrious Blue ahead of Electrolyser when the betting favourite Age of Aquarius pulled up half a mile from the finish. Electrolyser stuck to second place behind Age of Aquarius, ridden by Johnny Murtagh, through the early stage but the leader fell back, the William Knight-trained Illustrious Blue burst ahead to take his seventh Glorious Goodwood victory one-and-a-quarter lengths ahead. Purple Moon finished third.
"It's the third time he's won at Glorious Goodwood and a different trip each time, so what a star. Jim gave him a lovely ride,” said Knight. “"I regrettably should have tried him over two miles last year, but we've had a fantastic run with him and he keeps on winning for us.”
The weekend holds the final and most popular two days of the Glorious Goodwood, with highlights including the crowd-favourite Golden Mile on Friday and Steward’s Cup cavalry charge on Saturday.
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