Glorious Goodwood latest: Wathnan Racing on the board with Best Secret

Wathnan Racing claimed a first winner of the 2025 Qatar Goodwood Festival as Best Secret (7/2 favourite) came from a long way back in the Coral Kincsem Handicap.

A tardy start meant James Doyle was never in an ideal on the Stephane Wattel-trained colt but, once switched out wide, the duo finished strongly to collar Marhaba Ghaiyyath and win by a neck. Fort George (15/2) and Daiquiri Bay (9/1) filled the minor places, in a race where the front two pulled clear.

Qatar-based operation Wathnan Racing had 12 runners over the first two days, including four beaten favourites, while Best Secret was making up for an unlucky third in the Golden Gates Handicap at Royal Ascot.

Richard Brown of Wathnan Racing said: “We had a hard-luck story at Royal Ascot and, my goodness, we nearly had another one today. After two furlongs, Best Secret wasn’t travelling and didn’t look to be enjoying the track. James said he had to be brave and that was pretty impressive in the end.

“Not much has been coming off the pace this week and he has come last to first with a big run. You see a Johnston horse in front and think, ‘are we going to get there’, because we know how tough they are in front.

‘‘The plan was Ascot and that went wrong. We realigned and this was the plan. He is a tall, narrow horse who will get better. We will look after him. He might only have two more runs this season. He will be a much better horse next year.

“It is a relief we have had a winner. You pile the pressure on yourself because Goodwood is important to us. There are Qatar flags everywhere.’’

Wattel said: “I am still sweating because it was a hell of a race, and I was not confident during the race. Best Secret is slow to start so on a track like Goodwood it is not easy. We tried to have the horse starting with more speed but it's his own pace, so we can't do anything about it. We were in trouble but, thanks to James, he found his way on the outside and has a wonderful turn of foot.

“I guess we can see the horse at a higher level. He is a diesel, he needs time to warm up, but after he is finishing like a Ferrari! I will see if the owners have a target for the horse. I will give them some ideas for French racing as well, but he likes coming to England, so everything is open.

“Going a longer distance will definitely help him. Deauville is a very flat racing track, so he had to learn a lot today at Goodwood. I came to Goodwood at the beginning of my career, a very long time ago, to try and claim two-year-olds. At this stage I was doing a lot of claiming races as it's quite popular in France. It didn't work all the time, but it was very fun."

Doyle said: “Best Secret was very unlucky at Royal Ascot – I just couldn't get any gaps on him at all. He sleeps early, which isn't ideal in big field handicaps, and again he was very sleepy through the first half of the race. But I was able to come to the outside and I knew, once I got to the outside, he wouldn't let me down. I thought he was my banker of the week and it is nice that he's gone in.

“When you target meetings like Royal Ascot, here and the Arc meeting, the team expects winners. I would be lying if I said I wasn't getting a bit twitchy going into today, so it is a huge relief that we've got one on the board."

Charlie Johnston said of Marhaba Ghaiyyath: “The start was a bit messy as he came out a bit awkward and ended up much further back than planned, but in hindsight that maybe wasn’t the end of the world as the winner has come from even further back than us.

“Our horse came through to win the race and just got run out of it close home. He is a very good horse, but he’s sadly bumped into slightly better ones on both of his last two starts. Hopefully, his turn will come.”

The Buccellati Handicap went to Naana's Sparkle (15/2) for Alice Haynes and Charlie Bishop.

Bishop said: “Poor Rowan with his travel problems, but it was a nice spare to pick up. It was very straightforward. I got across with Kieran Shoemark and his horse is very fast. I felt once we got to the rail, the race was over.

“As you know with these sprinters, you can roll a dice as many times as you like and nine times out of 10 you'll get a different result, but I felt like this fellow loved that real, wet ground. He travelled through it really nicely, so that was to his advantage today.”

Haynes said: “It was pretty straightforward. The ground was a complete unknown. He didn’t really like it at Epsom and Haydock when it was slightly slower, but it is loose ground and they have gone through the top.

‘‘I thought the draw was against us, but he is a push-button ride and Charlie did a good job. He will be an improving sprinter. He has lots of speed and has been placed here before. He is actually a homebred for me and Kieran (O’Neill). We have had one and this is him.

‘‘Poor Rowan was upset he couldn’t make it. He sounded quite shook up. Thank God they are all OK. I think the engine failed after they had gone 20 minutes.’’

The 6/1 shot Sir Albert made most of the running under Oisin Murphy to bag the Phase Eight Nursery for trainer Andrew Balding.

Balding said: “I am very pleased with that. Sir Albert is quite streetwise now, handled the ground well, and was given a good positive ride. I wasn’t concerned about the rain for him. We always felt that he would cope.”

Murphy said: “That was a good spot for Sir Albert, and the rail maybe helped.”

Karl Burke's Aylin was cut to 20/1 from 50/1 by the sponsors ahead of the Sky Bet Lowther Stakes after opening her account at the second time of asking in the Tatler British EBF Maiden Fillies' Stakes.

Ridden by David Egan, the 11/4 favourited claimed the stands' side rail and was simply kept up to her work to score by two and three-quarter lengths from 22/1 chance Isle Of Fernandez.

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