Flat racing at Goodwood and the Curragh

Both Ireland´s leading racetrack The Curragh and Goodwood, one of the best in England, stage their final day´s racing of 2012 today. The Curragh has the better card, with 3 listed races as well as the Irish Cesarewitch at 17.40 CET, which with 27 runners is almost as difficult as yesterday´s Newmarket version. Dermot Weld saddles two candidates here, Hidden Universe (Shane Gorey) and Voleuse de Coeurs (Liam Roche) and they could run well, as should Hay Point (John Oxx/ Ben Curtis). Oxx won the race last year with Minsk, who now goes for the listed race over 1 1/2 miles at 17.05 with Johnny Murtagh in the saddle, but he was outclassed last time by the rapidly improving Chamonix (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) and we expect the same result now.

O´Brien can also take the mile race for 2yo fillies at 15.25, in which he has 3 runners. Joseph rides Hanky Panky, but Greek Goddess (Seamus Heffernan), another daughter of Galileo, looks just as strong, while Rawaaq (Weld/ Declan McDonough) and Seolan (Patrick Prendergast/ Chris Hayes) are also in with a chance. The other listed race is over 6 furlongs at 15.55, and we expect the two penalised runners Maarek (David Nagle/ Joseph O´Brien) and the 3yo filly Lady Wingshot (Jim Bolger/ Kevin Manning) to dominate here. Maarek has been very busy, but ran a great race when third under top weight in the Ayr Gold Cup and a week before that won a Group Three over this CD with Lady Wingshot more than 4 lengths back in fifth. If he is still in that form, he should win today.

At Goodwood, the card is dominated by handicaps, but the two races for 2yo maidens might be interesting; in the 9 furlongs event at 17.20, the Queen´s White Month (Andrew Balding/ David Probert), a son of Tiger Hill, makes his debut, but faces some strong opposition. The 6 furlongs handicap at 16.45 looks wide open, with the consistent Prodigality (Ron Harris/ Darren Egan) the likely favourite; he finished a close sixth in the Portland Handicap and was first or second on all his other starts in 2012, but has gone up a lot in the weights. R Woody (Roibert Cowell/ William Buck) is a course specialist, who won this race in 2010, while Sohraab (Hughie Morrison/ Richard Hughes) and Gouray Girl (Henry Candy/ Dane O´Neill) are both on a long losing run but certainly capable of winning at this level. We shall take a chance on Sohraab, whose stable is in good form, and Morrison can possibly double up with Nazreef (Darryll Holland), who attempts to repeat last year´s victory in the mil e handicap at 18.25.