Rest of Glorious Goodwood (fifth day)

The big betting race, and one of the hottest handicaps of the entire year, is the Stewards Cup over six furlongs at 16.55 CET. There appears to be no draw advantage over this tricky straight track, and many of these horses have met reach other before, either in this race last year or in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot. It is a very tough race for 3yo´s, so we are rightly or wrongly leaving them out of calculations. Older and experienced runners with course experience are the ones to look for in this cavalry charge, and we are therefore dubious about Waffle /David Barron/ Fran Berry), twice runner-up in the Wokingham, and Imperial Guest (George Margarson/ Ashley Hamblett), as both seem to be Ascot specialists. We are probably miles off, but our four against the field are oldtimer Borderlescott (Robin Bastiman/ Robert Winston), who has an excellent course record, Lui Rey (Robert Cowell/ Darren Egan), from a stable that was in great form yesterday and with the season´s hottest appr entice aboard, Mac´s Power (James Fanshawe/ Ryan Moore), third last year, and Victoire de Lyphar (David and Adrian Nicholls), well beaten last year but now much better handicapped and from a stable that seems to be coming back to form after a long quiet spell.

The six furlongs handicap that opens the card at 15.05 is basically the consolation race and also has 28 runners declared. The same principles apply and the three against the field here are the Nicholls´ 10yo Tax Free, runner-up in the Stewards Cup last year, Nasri (Milton Bradley/ Jim Crowley), fourth in that race, and Valery Borsov (Richard Fahey/ Fran Berry), third here last year.

The handicap over 1 3/4 miles at 15.40 has only 14 runners but looks equally difficult. We would have picked Harlestone Times, but we are worried about John Dunlop´s stable form. Petara Bay (Robert Mills/ Jim Crowley) has a good course record and won this last year/; he has a huge weight but still goes on the short list, together with The Betchworth Kid (Alan King/ Hayley Turner) , also a smart hurdler, and Life and Soul (Amanda Perrett/ William Buick), who has run two good races here.

Richard Hannon´s 2yo´s have been running well here this week, and the unraced Wentworth (Richard Hughes) is supposed to be smart; the 200,000 guineas yearling runs in the 7 furlongs maiden at 17.30. Hannon also has two runners in the 2yo handicap at 18.05, but we prefer top-weight New Pearl (David Brown/ Harry Bentley).

However Ryan Moore is always dangerous when riding for his father, and Dutch Masterpiece, impossible for the handicapper to assess after winning a minor event on the all-weather on his only start, has to be the selection.
Mark Johnston has been mopping up the handicaps at this meeting and has plenty of runners today. His best chance in our opinion is top-weight Landaman (MJM Murphy), penalised 6 lbs for an easy win over this CD on Tuesday, in the apprentice race which closes the meeting at 18.40