Glorious Goodwood: day three

The Glorious Goodwood meeting continues today when the main feature is the Group Two Goodwood Cup over 2 miles at 16.25 CET. Aidan O´Brien just missed out yesterday in the Sussex Stakes but can take this with Age of Aquarius with stable jockey Johnny Murtagh - back from suspension- in the saddle. Last time out Age of Aquarius ran an excellent race to finish runner-up in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot with Purple Moon (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon) third and Kite Wood (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) seventh. This shorter trip should suit Kite Wood better, while Purple Moon is extremely consistent and has been running in top races all over the world (without actually winning a race for 3 years!) but there seems no reason why they should overturn the O´Brien runner. A much bigger danger is local trainer John Dunlop´s Tactic (Richard Hills), who seems mich improved and has the highest rating in the field; on his Curragh win from Profound Beauty there is little between him and Age of Aquarius. We would love to see German-bred veteran Caracciola (Nicky Henderson/ Eddie Ahern), 4th here last year. to run well again but on current form he will do well to get placed.

The King George Stakes, a Group Three over 5 furlongs at 15.45, has many of the top sprinters in the line-up, including consistent Borderlescott (Robin Bastiman/ Kieren Fallon). However he usually comes into top form later in the year and we prefer Astrophysical Jet (Ed McMahon/ Graham Gibbons), who, running over 5 furlongs for the first time, put up an excellent performance at Newmarket to win a valuable handicap under a huge weight. The dark horse here is American raider Starfish (Todd Pletcher/ Frankie Dettori), who beat the course record when winning at Monmouth Park last time. Hard to say what this form is worth, but it would be no surprise were he to outclass this field.

The other group race is the Lillie Langtry Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 3/4 miles at 17.00. Nothing stnds out here, but surely super-consistent Polly´s Mark (Clive Cox/ Richard Hughes), who has been in the money on 13 of her 14 career starts, should be placed again. Motrice (Sir Mark Prescott/ Seb Sanders), has won her last 3 starts, all over this distance, but is taking a huge leap on class; however horses from this yard, currently in great form, can never be underestimated. On the other hand, Flying Cloud (Saeed bin Suroor/ Dettori), is unproven at the trip, but could still run out the winner as her form reads very well, in particular her second place in an Irish Group One.
The other U.K. meetings are not that exciting, but keep an eye on old-timer The Tatling (Milton Bradley/ Jack Dean) in the 5 furlongs handicap at 15.35 at Nottingham. This admirable performer, 16 wins and 39 places in 141 career starts, has been dropped in the weights, was arguably unlucky last time, and looks a gilt-edged each-way bet