Glorious Goodwood: day one

Galway is not the only meeting this week - in fact it is trumped in almost every respect by the Glorious Goodwood meeting which begins today. Certainly the racing here is of much higher quality and today´s card features three group races. The Gordon Stakes for 3yo´s over 1 1/2 miles at 15.50 CET is a traditional St. Leger trial and looks at the mercy of Sir Michael Stoute´s Conduit (Ryan Moore), who finished strongly when runner-up in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. Hebridean (Aidan O´Brien/ Johnny Murtagh) finished well behind that day, but with the stable in unstoppable form, he looks the obvious (and probably only) danger. The Betfair Cup over 7 furlongs at 16.30 os toda´s main feature, and Ryan Moore is again on the hot favourite, John Gosden´s Infallible, who as a 3yo filly received weight from all the other 8 runners. She has excellent form in the top fillies races, but it might not be so easy against the colts, and possibly Godolphin´ s Il Warrd (Frankie Dettori) and Jeremy Noseda´s Atrabian Gleam (Johnny Murtagh) can be preferred. The Molecomb Stakes for 2yo´s over 5 furlongs at 17.05 has attracted a very strong field of 15, and Bryan Smart´s Spin Cycle (Ted Durcan) looks the likely favourite after finishing second in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. Flashmans Papers (John Best/ Steve Drowne), out of German mare Franglais- finished fourth that day after winning at 100-1 two days earlier and could be in the shake-up again, while it is interesting that his trainer also saddles the newcomer Noverre to Hide (Liam Keniry). Obviously it is unusual for a debutant to win such a race, but he has apparently been working as well as his stable companion. Godolphin´s Global City (Dettori) also looks dangerous after winning in a canter at Yarmouth last time, although this race is naturally much tougher. The most interesting of the handicaps could be the 1 3/4 miles race at 17.40, with several Ebor entries among the 14 runners. Luca Cumani saddles the two top weights, Sanbuch (Ryan Moore) and Bauer (Murtagh), while Godolphin rely on the lightly-raced Moon Quest (Dettori) but the fascinating runner here is the unbeaten Milne Graden (Noseda/ Tom Queally), two of whose victories came here over 10 furlongs. The extra half mile is an unknown quantity, but he shapes like a colt with huge potential.