Goodwood Cup today

The Group Two Goodwood Cup over 2 miles at 16.15 CET is the big race at Glorious Goodwood today and there is a strong German interest in the race, as Altano (Andreas Wöhler/ Eduardo Pedroza) runs here following his good effort when fifth in the Gold Cup at Ascot. Colour Vision (Saeed bin Suroor/ Silvestre de Sousa), to our mind the best of the 3 Godolphin runners here, finished just in front of him then, with Saddler´s Rock (John Oxx/ Declan McDonough) a very disappointing 8th and Number Theory and Repeater further back. Saddler´s Rock won this race last year, from Askar Tau (Marcus Tregoning/ George Baker) and Colour Vision, but does not seem in the same form in 2013. Brown Panther (Tom Dascombe/ Richard Dascombe/ Ruichatrd Kingscote) started favourite for the 2011 German Derby and has some useful form to his credit, wjhile Askar Tau, who runs his best races here, is out of a German mare. Altano, whose trainer is now well-known in the U.K. after Novellist´s brilliant win at Ascot, must have a decent chance, but this looks a tough race., much better than the 2012 eition, and we expect Mount Athos (Luca Cumani/ Jamie Spencer) and Caucus (John Gosden/ William Buick) to be the two to beat. Mount Athos was an unlucky 5th last year in the Melbourne Cup and is being trained for that race again, but could take this one on the way, while the lighly-raced Caucus was not far behind Gold Cup winner Estimate earlier in the season and has an obvious chance on that form.

Charlie Appleby has made an excellent start as the new Godolphin Trainer, and Saeed bin Suroor is probably relieved now that he has only 200 horses running under his name, rather than 400 as before! Appleby won a Group race here yesterday and can score again with Figure of Speech (Mickael Barzalona) in the Group Two Richmond Stakes for 2yo´s at 15.45. He was an excellent runner-up in the July Stakes at Newmarket, which is easily the best form in the race.

There could also be a German-bred winner in the Group Three Lillie Langtry Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 3/4 miles at 16.45, as the Röttgen-bred Wild Coco (Lady Cecil/ Tom Queally) is clear top-rated. She does not run very often, but that is no handicap and she took this race last year. Elik (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore) looks the main danger, and she also is out of a German mare. This could be another good day for German breeding, as we also fancy Broughton (Mark Johnston/ Franny Norton), once the top-priced yearling at the BBAG sale, in the opening 10 furlongs handicap at 15.15.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Code Of Honor - Ajmany - Tha`ir
2. Race: Figure Of Speech - Saayerr - Miracle Of Medinah
3. Race: Mount Athos - Caucus - Colour Vision
4. Race: Wild Coco - Elik - Souviens Toi
5. Race: Amazing Maria - Remember - Radiator
6. Race: Pythagorean - Homage - Majestic Moon
7. Race: Mean It - Commend - Lord Ofthe Shadows