Good morning all,

It's new day, its a new month and a long week of racing at Goodwood and Galway has come to an end. There were several standout performances at the Qatar Goodwood Festival and it was good to see a near full house of spectators back at one of flat racing’s big summer festivals. Indeed, it was a sell out 25,000 crowd on Saturday for Stewards Cup Day. 

Ok, the weather was hardly “Glorious” over the five days and heavy rain on Sunday & Monday and plenty of watering in the weeks leading up to the meeting led to heavy ground for the opening day card and cut in the ground for most of the five days. Oh, don't get me started on the thorny subject of over-watering.

Over the next two days you can read my thoughts on the standout performers from Qatar Goodwood Festival and which horses caught my eye over the five days.

Inside today’s longer than normal piece it’s my Goodwood highlights. Plus, I have preview of this evening’s feature race at Windsor.

Read More »Goodwood Highlights & Windsor Selection

Good morning all,

It's dry outside my window this morning (I'm virtually on the track, don't forget) and it's dried out a touch in the night, but it's still good to soft in the main at Goodwood for Stewards Cup day.

My thoughts on the final day on the main piece.

Read More »Goodwood Festival – Day 5

Good morning all,

This is one of the busiest weeks of the year for me, second only to Royal Ascot (in a normal year anyway) as I’m moving around the country working for the latter half of the week. I’ve already been to Sandown and Epsom last night, and now for the next two days it’s going to be Goodwood all the way. Hoping for dry weather! (Update – I have never, ever, got so wet as I did at Sandown Wednesday night.) 

The rain at the beginning of the week means we’re dealing with ground with some cut in it this week. As of 6.30am this morning, we've had another 3.6mm in the night, but it is very blustery and the ground remains simialr to what it was yesterday.

It’s a decent Friday card, so let’s see if we can find where the value lies. 

Read More »Goodwood Festival – Day 4

Good morning all,

A tricky track, tricky races and more tricky weather and you have the makings for a punter's nightmare.

The weather was better at Goodwood on Wednesday. At this time of year, the ground can dry out quickly. In the short term that’s not necessary a good thing. The going can get “gluey & holding” and not all horses act on such a surface. Forecasts for the rest of the week are sending out mixed messages. Some continue to predict a mixture of sunshine and scattered showers. The worst type of forecast for us punters is “scattered” showers. Meanwhile others talk of light rain late Thursday evening through to Friday morning.  

It was a clean sweep for the classic generation in the yesterday’s Sussex Stakes. With Alcohol Free just getting the better of Poetic Flare inside the final furlough. The winner is a tough filly. Who was the best horse on the day and became the first of her sex to win the race since Soviet Song in 2004.

Back to Thursday’s action. It’s day three of the Goodwood Festival and there’s more racing at the Galway Festival.  The feature races of a seven-race card are the Group 1 Qatar Nassau Stakes (3:35) and the Group 2 Unibet Richmond Stakes (2:25).

Over at Galway. It’s more National Hunt action. The highlight of an eight-race card is Guinness Galway Hurdle Handicap (6:15) with €147,500 on offer to the winner.

Inside the main piece, I have taken a look at the first four races at Goodwood.

Read More »Qatar Goodwood Festival – Day 3