Glorious Goodwood Day 1 Tips

Glorious Goodwood begins on Tuesday with a cracking card that centres around the Group 1 Goodwood Cup. In anticipation of a top day’s racing, our Racing Editor has produced previews and selections for all EIGHT races on day one of the meeting. Check this out below, alongside an exclusive Paddy Power offer, which provides £40 in Free Bets when you place a £10 bet on horse racing.

BRILLIANT LIGHT – (1:50 Goodwood, Coral Chesterfield Cup Handicap) 11/2

The Glorious Goodwood opener can go to BRILLIANT LIGHT for Godolphin. This 5yo has done well since returning to Britain after a spell in Dubai, backing up a Ripon reappearance win with creditable efforts in both the Duke Of Edinburgh at Royal Ascot and John Smith’s Cup at York.

Brilliant Light was coming back at the leaders last time, and if they go hard here on the front end his stamina should come to the forte late.

Just Fine is another that would benefit from having a decent pace to aim at, albeit he finished behind the selection at York, whilst the likes of Caradoc and Bell Rock don’t win often enough for horses of their ability.

The main danger to Saeed bin Suroor’s charge, therefore, could come from the well-bred Legend Of Dubai, albeit he has to bounce back from a poor Hunt Cup run and might be best in a smaller field.

GALERON – (2:25 Goodwood, Japan Racing Association Vintage Stakes) 13/2

A tricky renewal of the Group 2 Vintage Stakes, favourite Holloway Boy will be of obvious interest on the back of his first-time-out Chesham win, albeit it didn’t look like a particularly strong renewal of that contest and the form’s been let down since.

Preference goes to GALERON, who has had both starts so far at this track.

This son of Camacho was an eyecatcher on debut, completely blowing the start and suffering trouble in running but staying on into fifth in a race which has worked out very well since.

He stepped forward on that showing when landing a 6f maiden last month, getting motoring late to ultimately run out a cosy length and a quarter winner. That form’s been franked by the second since, whilst both his pedigree and running style suggest that he’s going to benefit from tackling 7f for the first time.

Trainer Charlie Hills has been profitable to follow with his juveniles at Goodwood (+16.08 to level stakes) in recent seasons, and with a couple of Johnston-trained pace angles in this lineup things should set up nicely for Galeron late on.

Jiffy Boy is written off by most firms at 66/1, but a form line through Persian Force suggests that he doesn’t have masses to find with the likes of Mysterious Night and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him outrun those odds, for all that he hasn’t been seen since April and has only raced on ground with cut so far.

Goodwood Racecourse
Goodwood
Chichester
West Sussex
PO18 0PS
United Kingdom

Goodwood Racecourse

One of the most popular tracks in the country, Goodwood hosts numerous top-class races during the summer. The summer fixture, known as Glorious Goodwood, features five days of top-class action including the Group 1 Sussex Stakes amongst a clutch of pattern races and top-quality handicaps. The track is undulating and favours horses that race close to the pace, particularly on the round course as the field are racing around a gradual bend for much of the contest.

LUSAIL – (3:00 Goodwood, World Pool Lennox Stakes) 4/1

Sacred is expected to be a warm order for this year’s Lennox Stakes given she’s 2-2 at this trip and went close in a strong renewal of the Platinum Jubilee on seasonal debut last month. Her fine record fresh suggests that she’s no good thing to come on for that showing, however, and it’s a slight niggle that she’s yet to race around a bend, so at the prices she can be opposed with LUSAIL.

3yos admittedly don’t have an extraordinary recent record in this event, but Lusail has performed admirably in defeat in all four starts this season, and given his owner’s connection with this meeting expect him to have been targeted at this from a fair way out.

Lusail appeared to benefit from the drop back to 7f when third in the Prix Jean Prat last time, only giving best late on, doing by far the best of those to have raced up with the pace. Regular pilot Pat Dobbs keeps the partnership intact here, and on these terms, if he runs up to a mark of 114 he’ll be the one that they all have to beat.

KYPRIOS – (3:35 Goodwood, Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes) 6/4

A mouth-watering renewal of the Tuesday feature Goodwood Cup can go to reigning Gold Cup champion KYPRIOS.

This colt landed a slightly messy renewal of that Royal Ascot contest but can have his personal effort upgraded given that he was angled out for a run very early and therefore had to concede ground to some of his rivals.

As it was a fairly tactical renewal of the Gold Cup, it hopefully won’t have taken too much out of Kyprios, and given it was only his seventh career outing, he has a fairly significant scope for improvement compared with most of these opponents.

The hardy Trueshan should be respected for all that he’s going to be disadvantaged by this surface and whilst it’d be a fairytale for Stradivarius to notch an incredible fifth win in this event, he’s not quite at the peak of his powers anymore.

ATALIS BAY – (4:10 Goodwood, Nicholson Gin Handicap) 8/1

Dusky Lord did best of those coming from off the pace at Newmarket last time and if cheekpieces can eke out even minimal improvement here he’s going to at least go close.

At a bigger price, however, it is ATALIS BAY who is favoured.

This lad was a 130,000 guineas purchase at the Autumn Sales last year, and whilst he cut little ice in his first two starts for these connections, those came at a time when his new yard was going through a very slow spell (1-52 with their turf runners in April & May).

Atalis Bay showed far more promise when seventh in Listed company at York last time, his first run after being gelded. He finished less than 5l off the Nunthorpe favourite there that despite being quite badly hampered a furlong out.

Now dropped back to handicap company, in which his form figures read 113, and 5lb lower than when last seen in this sphere, this looks the time to catch Atalis Bay.

CELTIC CHAMPION – (4:45 Goodwood, British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes) 4/1

A form line through Bluelight Bay (runs here Thursday) suggests that there is very little to split Mischief Magic and CELTIC CHAMPION, but given that the selection completely blew the start last time and was ultimately only beaten 2l, it was a performance worth marking up significantly and it was promising to see the second subsequently frank the form.

Celtic Champion is entitled to have learnt plenty for that initial showing and this 150,000 guineas breeze-up buy has the pedigree to make a significant mark over sprint distances, being a half-brother to the classy Dragon Symbol.

As always with these maidens, the market should guide on what to expect, but given Marcus Tregoning won this event two years ago and had last year’s beaten favourite it could be safe to assume that it’s a race he targets and his Master Of Chant, therefore, looks a possible place angle away from the selection.

Bangor-on-Dee

Hurdle Turf

6 races

Newcastle

Hurdle Turf

7 races

Limerick

Hurdle Turf

7 races

Wolverhampton (AW)

Flat AW

7 races

CRYSTAL CAPRICE – (5:20 Goodwood, Coral Beaten-By-A-Length Free Bet Fillies’ Handicap)

Not an overly strong fillies handicap here and it appears to provide CRYSTAL CAPRICE with a good opportunity to supplement her recent Yarmouth maiden success.

Sir Michael Stoute’s filly is bred in the purple being by Frankel out of a Listed winner in Crystal Zvezda (from the family of Group 1 winner Crystal Ocean) and whilst she failed to cut much ice in a couple of novices at Newmarket and Newbury earlier this season, she was backed as though defeat was out of the question at Yarmouth and showed that market support to be justified with a dominant 7l success.

The form of that race is obviously a little open to question, but the handicapper doesn’t appear to have gone overboard by assigning this filly an opening mark of 87, particularly given her pedigree and that she’s now appeared to have found the ability to settle early in her races.

KIMNGRACE – (5:55 Goodwood, World Pool EBF Fillies’ Handicap)

The strongest bet on Goodwood’s day one card comes in the concluding 6f handicap, where KIMNGRACE can be backed to return to the winner’s enclosure here at Goodwood.

Richard Hughes’ filly did best of the runners coming from off the pace when fourth in a Sandown handicap on seasonal reappearance, and that’s form which has worked out very well with the first, second and fifth home all subsequent winners.

Kimngrace did her bit for the form when going in over course and distance next time, and although she failed to follow up when a 6/4f at Haydock next time, the winner looks an above-average sort (has won again since and is now 11lb higher) and the front two pulled over 3l clear of the remainder.

Going back up to 6f will benefit Kimngrace, particularly in a race which should be run to suit, and a 5lb rise seems manageable given that she’s clearly thriving at present. Ryan Moore takes over steering duties here, and if he can weave his way through this field expect Kimngrace to have too much ability for many of these, who look either exposed or on high enough handicap marks.