Three horses to watch at Glorious Goodwood
Next week, the stands of Goodwood Racecourse (pictured above) will be packed with punters as the picturesque rolling Sussex countryside once again plays host to one of flat racing’s flagship events — the Goodwood Festival, known more popularly as ‘Glorious Goodwood’ to lovers of the sport.
The prestigious five-day meeting is a summer highlight and is steeped in horse racing history — dating back to the beginning of the 1800s when the 3rd Duke of Richmond introduced racing to the area. Nowadays, major races like the Goodwood Cup, the £1 million Sussex Stakes and the Nassau Stakes attract the best thoroughbreds from all over the world.
So, with the horse racing odds starting to take shape as the festival edges ever closer, we have put together a list of three horses to keep an eye out for at Glorious Goodwood. Read on to find out more!
Stradivarius – Goodwood Cup
The Goodwood Cup is the feature race on the opening day of the meeting, and while Aidan O’Brien’s Gold Cup-winning Kyprios is the favourite for the two-mile contest after winning all three of his outings this season, we can’t help but focus on fan favourite Stradivarius.
With Trueshan, who is on a five-race unbeaten streak, also in the mix, it promises to be a fantastic race. But the onus will be on Stradivarius to win a record-extending fifth Goodwood Cup and there has already been drama in the build up as Bjorn Neilson, the horse’s owner, has confirmed Andrea Atzeni will replace Frankie Dettori in the saddle for what could prove to be the legendary Stradivarius’ swansong.
Baaeed – Sussex Stakes
If you weren’t lucky enough to witness the great Frankel in action, then Baaeed is perhaps the next best thing. Often likened to the Juddmonte horse, who is considered the greatest of all time, the William Haggas one miler is following in his footsteps and is aiming to replicate Frankel’s 2012 feat of winning the Lockinge Stakes, the Queen Anne, the Goodwood Cup, the Juddmonte International and the Champion Stakes.
Baaeed has already ticked off the first two races in that list, beating Real World at both Newbury and Ascot, but will have to see off Godolphin’s 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace winner Coroebus if he is to make it three from three en route to emulating Frankel. The four-year-old, who has a 100% strikerate from his first eight rules races, should do just that though.
Nashwa – Nassau Stakes
Nashwa’s odds of winning the Nassau Stakes on Thursday are only getting shorter by the day in the Goodwood betting. In fact, she is now odds on to win the one-mile, two-furlong contest after her John and Thady Gosden stablemates Inspiral and La Petite Coco have been redirected elsewhere.
The three-year-old, who has been ridden by Hollie Doyle in all five of her races to date, won a Fillies’ Novice Stakes at Haydock on her seasonal reappearance and followed that up with a victory in the Haras De Bouquetot Trail at Newbury. Defeat followed in the Oaks, finishing a respectable third in the Classic, but she bounced back in the French equivalent — the Group 1 Prix de Diane at Chantilly — and this should be a second top-group victory on her growing CV.