Andrew Asquith steps in for Ben Linfoot at Glorious Goodwood this week and has two selections on day one.
The Verdict: Tuesday July 28
1pt e.w. Liberty Lane in 13:50 Glorious Goodwood at 12/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5)
1pt win Marvelman in 15:00 Glorious Goodwood at 6/1 (William Hill)
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Taking Liberty at Goodwood
The opening Coral Chesterfield Cup Handicap on day one of Glorious Goodwood looks a typically competitive renewal, and Noble Horizon who heads the betting is a horse I’ve been waiting to reappear since his dominant win at Leicester in June.
He looked one to follow on the back of that performance, but he’s now 10lb higher pitched into much deeper waters, and there is a strong chance he’ll face competition for the lead if ridden in a similar manner.
Al Aali was impressive in first-time blinkers at Newmarket recently and will be a force to be reckoned with if the headgear has a similar effect once more, while it would be no surprise to see Yabher bounce back from a flop in the John Smith’s Cup last time given how impressive he was over this course and distance on his return.
However, it is another course and distance winner who tops my shortlist, and the horse in question is 2024 Cambridgeshire winner LIBERTY LANE.
He added a couple of Listed wins to that success last season, narrowly beating a good field at this course and proving even more dominant back at Newmarket when giving the very smart Gethin 6lb and a beating.
That is strong form and he bounced right back to his best fitted with first-time cheekpieces over a mile at Sandown last time.
He wasn’t firing on all cylinders in his first three starts of the season, but there was plenty more promise to glean from the last run, arguably sent for home earlier than ideal down in trip which made him vulnerable to the closers in the latter stages, losing two places close home.
Liberty Lane is just 4lb higher in the weights than when running out a convincing winner in the Cambridgeshire and he will be much happier back over this longer trip. He’s likely to be ridden prominently in behind the pace setters and his draw in stall 4 should allow him to get a good position from which to strike in the straight when the cutaway appears two furlongs out.
He’s a classy horse on his day who is used to carrying big weights in handicaps and should be hard to keep out of the frame if bringing his A game.
Balding bandwagon to continue
Andrew Balding enjoyed an excellent weekend with Kalpana winning the King George, Item winning the Sky Bet York Stakes and Moonrise winning the Princess Margaret and I think he can have further success in the HKJC World Pool Lennox Stakes with MARVELMAN.
He’s closely matched with Witness Stand on their running in the Hungerford last season, but he improved further when running away with the Park Stakes at Doncaster on his next start, a performance which highlighted him as a very smart colt.
Marvelman gave himself little chance of getting home upped to a mile in the QEII next time, failing to settle moving into Group 1 company, and things just didn’t pan out for him in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
However, he bounced right back to his best in the Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle following a break last month, finishing a good second to an unexposed sort when giving 5lb away to all of his rivals.
The third has won the Hackwood Stakes since, so the form has a solid look to it, and Marvelman will be well suited by the return to seven furlongs returned to turf.
He won’t need to improve much further to lower the colours of standard setter Lake Forest and his more unexposed profile offers hope he can take another step forward under these circumstances.
Published at 15:30 BST on 27/07/26
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