Glorious Goodwood Tips: Wednesday Q&A including Sussex Stakes

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being very keen) how keen are you to take on 4/9 favourite Field Of Gold in the Sussex Stakes?

Andrew Asquith: I’d be a firm 1. He faces a new challenge now going up against his elders, particularly Rosallion, who is a class act on his day, but he’s been beaten twice this season and hasn’t really improved from three to four as yet. Therefore, I think it will be very hard to give weight and a beating to Field of Gold, who has looked a superstar on his last two starts. His strong-travelling style paired with his push-button speed make him a dangerous colt and I fully expect him to record a third Group 1 in succession.

Matt Brocklebank: Well, there are 10 horses currently entered to take on Field Of Gold but how many of those are going to show up? There was a time when I feared Richard Hannon might be tempted to take Rosallion to France for the Prix Jacques Le Marois instead but thankfully that plan would appear to have been shelved so at least we have some top older horses taking on the Gosden colt as Docklands, Carl Spackler and the supplemented Qirat should also be involved. Having said that, I’d still be hovering somewhere between 0.5 and 1 on this special scale, so it’s probably time to move along and find a handicap to bet on!

Ben Linfoot: I’d be pretty lukewarm about taking him on and would say about 2/10 at this stage. His class is there for all to see and while earlier in the season I thought he might be vulnerable over a mile at some stage, particularly when taking on his elders, he’s getting more comfortable at the distance with each run, so much so he’s looking unbeatable over a mile. I still can’t wait to see him over 10 furlongs, but we’re likely to see more fireworks over a mile first, Goodwood’s idiosyncratic track the only slight question mark against him. He’s got the balance and the poise to brush off that query without fuss.

Can Havana Hurricane bounce out of a Super Sprint loss to win the Molecomb?

Andrew Asquith: He seemed to get outpaced a little in the Super Sprint before flying home, looking like he’d done enough – he traded at 1.01 in-running on Betfair – only to be caught on the line. Therefore, I wouldn’t be so sure a sharp five furlongs at Goodwood will suit him that well given it’s one of the fastest in the country. Of the entries it is Zelaina who makes most appeal to me. She has shown bags of speed in each of her two starts and if she gets free-wheeling at Goodwood she could be hard to peg back.

Matt Brocklebank: You can’t help but admire a horse like Havana Hurricane but as the weeks and months go by then you’d imagine plenty of other juveniles will quickly begin to catch up with a horse who started his season on May 2. He’s got a significant class gap to bridge, but it’s got to be worth mentioning Yorkshire Puds for Mick Appleby and the team who gave us Big Evs and Big Mojo. Big Evs had won the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot en route to Goodwood but Big Mojo landed the Molecombe on the back of a debut defeat up north earlier in the month, so this son of Mehmas could step forward massively from his introductory third at Pontefract.

Ben Linfoot: He’s going to have a favourite’s chance, you would think. He’s already won at Royal Ascot off a 12-day break so 11 days between Newbury and Goodwood looks ample while he looks the form pick. Added to that he’s won at the course after beating Logi Bear by two lengths on debut, so I’d be against taking him on as well, though not quite to the extent of Field Of Gold!

How do you approach a horse like Cloud Cover in the G3 Oak Tree Stakes back on turf considering the progress she’s made on the all-weather?

Andrew Asquith: Cloud Cover has only raced on turf twice, which came on her second and third start, and she could only produce fair form. It would be harsh to crab her as an all-weather specialist given those runs came so early in her career and she is clearly a much better horse now, but you do have to question why connections have kept her away from turf. They have nothing to lose rolling the dice in this, as she may prove just as effective on turf, but I wouldn’t be backing her to find out.

Matt Brocklebank: You’d typically assume that nipping around the all-weather courses wouldn’t be a bad education ahead of a horse’s Goodwood debut, but it’s interesting to see this one has achieved most of her best performance ratings at Newcastle and Chelmsford which are the flatter and more galloping synthetic tracks in the country. That could be a route into taking James Tate’s filly on, while the initial entry is deep as it is broad so hopefully we get a good-sized field come final declarations.

Ben Linfoot: Dead interesting this as she’s arguably got the second-best form in the race behind Spiritual, but she hasn’t run on turf since her third start 16 runs ago. Since then she has developed from a 72-rated novice into a 109-rated mare who put in a career-best on her last start when winning a Listed race by two lengths at Chelmsford. We’ll have to weigh all this up against her odds, but I see no reason why she can’t translate her all-weather form to the turf, for all that as a punter you have to acknowledge that she might not be as good on a grass surface until she proves otherwise.

Give us one on the radar for the handicaps on day two?

Andrew Asquith: Sing Us A Song in the opening mile and a half handicap looks very interesting. He looked potentially smart when making a winning return on handicap debut at Sandown in April, form which has worked out very well, and it is best to put a line through his run at Royal Ascot last time. He’d presumably been kept fresh for that race from just a 7lb higher mark, but a slow start meant he was poorly placed and he was never able to get into contention. Sing Us A Song remains an exciting prospect and one I’m sure is on a very good mark.

Matt Brocklebank: Bassadanza has barely beaten a rival home in two starts so far this season but team Johnston has rekindled many a filly in time for this meeting and she’s been kept fresh since getting blocked in her run when sent off among the complete outsiders in the Sandringham at Ascot. If they can get her back to last season’s form then a falling mark of 80 could be more than manageable and I see she’s in on Tuesday as well as Wednesday’s fillies’ handicap over 10 furlongs. Given her pedigree (her dam is a half-sister to a 1m4f G1 winner), the latter option might be quite tempting and a potential source of improvement.

Ben Linfoot: Ed Bethell’s Intrusively is in the Group 2 Lennox Stakes on Tuesday but I would expect he’s more likely to take up his option in the seven-furlong handicap at 4.55 on Wednesday. Last year he improved with racing until peaking at this meeting in the Richmond Stakes where he outran his 40/1 odds with a good third, that form ensuring he was rated 102 at the time. He gets to run off 94 now and after two starts so far this campaign he’s slowly building towards a peak again and he might be a touch fresher than a few of his rivals. I wouldn’t mind seeing him run on ground with a bit of cut in it, either. Either way, he’s on the radar.

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