Our Matt Brocklebank went to Spigot Lodge to catch up with Karl Burke to talk all things Qatar Goodwood Festival with the Middleham handler.
What makes Goodwood special?
Karl Burke’s association to what is now the Qatar Goodwood Festival dates back over two decades and the Leyburn trainer is set to take one of his strongest ever teams to the Sussex Downs this week.
Burke has fond memories of the meeting down the years, from his first winner courtesy of Zietzig back in 2000 to last year’s Festival when Illustrating won the Alice Keppel Conditions Stakes for one of the yard’s principal owners, Clipper Logistics.
“I remember Philip Robinson had ridden Zietzig to win a seller at York the previous season and he said ‘don’t get rid of this horse, it’ll win a big one for you’ and he consequently did go and win the valuable seven-furlong handicap at Glorious Goodwood the following summer.
“It’s a great course, a unique course in many ways, but it’s a great meeting and now we have probably copied Mark and Charlie Johnston a little bit in that we almost treat it as a mid-season break and a bit of a change of scenery.
“We’ve found a very nice place to stay which is close to the course and Elaine and I and a few others go down for the whole week now. We’ve done that for the last five or six years and it’s been brilliant.
“At the end of the day, you’re there to work and there to win races so while some people might say it’s quite relaxed compared to Royal Ascot, it’s only nice and relaxed if you have a winner!”
Who are the names to note in major races?
Burke's Goodwood squad is likely to be made up of around a dozen horses this time around and while he could target one or two of the handicaps, it's his juveniles that look likely to make or break his week.
“The handicaps are very high-grade handicaps so you need those quality older horses just to get into the races and we might not have too many of those, maybe Eilean Dubh will get a run in the Golden Mile, but a lot of the rest of them will be two-year-olds.
“We won the Molecomb a few years ago with Havana Grey and we’re going to roll the dice with Looking For Lynda this year.
“He was fourth in the Super Sprint and on paper he’s got it all to at this sort of level but he’s a quick horse and I think he ran better at Newbury than he was given credit for.
“We’re also going to pitch Ayr maiden winner Marshman into the Richmond Stakes on Thursday. It’s a big ask but he worked very nicely on Friday morning and it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on.”
Burke’s most high-profile two-year-old of the week, however, is likely to be Holloway Boy, the shock Chesham Stakes winner who bids to prove that wasn’t a fluke in race two on day one at Goodwood – the Group Two Japan Racing Association Vintage Stakes.
The son of Ulysses was sent off a 40/1 shot on debut at Ascot, having had to miss an intended run two weeks earlier at Musselburgh, but defied the odds with a late surge to beat fellow outsider Pearling Path by a length.
Burke recalls watching the Chesham unfold: “It was quite amusing thinking back as I went up towards the back of the stands at Ascot and was very relaxed as we were there thinking if he finished fifth or sixth, then great.
“Danny (Tudhope) loves riding Ascot as he can really take his time and at halfway I knew, having watched Danny a lot obviously, that his body language suggested we had plenty left in the tank. Then I saw the Juddmonte horse come under pressure, one or two of the other jockeys started niggling, and we were still travelling well.
“Three furlongs out I thought we’re running a nice race here, two out I thought we’d be fourth or fifth, entering the final furlong I knew we’d definitely be in the three, but it wasn’t until the last 100 yards when he really took off – which was brilliant to see.
“So it was more amusing than particularly pressure, looking back on it now.
“We trained his sister (Oppressive) for Cheveley Park and she was a nice filly but she injured herself before she ever got chance to win a race so on paper she was a non-winner but we knew she had ability. That attracted me to go and look at Holloway Boy in the first place and once I saw him, he was a beautiful-looking horse.
“He was very athletic and although £60,000 was quite expensive, at the higher range of us buying on spec, we really liked him as a yearling.
“We’ve ended up with a lot of speed horses again this year, but at the time I wanted to go into the sales and buy a few more stamina-type horses and he obviously fitted the bill.
“Nick White bought 50 per cent of the horse off us and he’s a new owner, it’s his first horse in his own colours I think so he’s a lucky man! We’ve had lots of offers to buy him but we didn’t want to sell at this stage.
“The Vintage is a very different race but I went through the card and it looks like there will be enough horses who want to make the running. That was encouraging to see as what we won’t want is a slow, tactically-run race and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be.
“He’s not a speed horse but he’s not a slow horse either, he has a great cruising speed and he’ll finish his race out well. He’s well balanced and if he can go and pull it off there then it’s another step forward. He’s a good-actioned horse and I won’t mind what the ground is.
“If things go well then we’ll have to consider options but the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster is perhaps the sort of race I’d be looking towards. We’ll see how he gets on at Goodwood first.
“Atomic Impact and Hobson Point are two nice juveniles owned by Clipper. They’re unraced and both are ready to run but they’ll improve for a run.
Atomic Impact is actually a brother to Illustrating who won at the meeting last year and Hobson Point is a half-brother to Attagirl, another very sharp filly of ours.
Who else makes up the Burke raiding party?
It's not as if Burke doesn't have the odd older horse to take down to Sussex, though, with an old favourite going for the Lennox while one of his best three-year-olds goes for a renowned St Leger trial - even if he can't run in the Doncaster Classic.
“Lord Of The Lodge is going down there, we own him ourselves and I do think the track will suit him. The Lennox could cut up a little bit and he’s a good, tough horse.
“Al Qareem runs in the Gordon Stakes – he’s a good, galloping horse. He’s unable to run in the St Leger at Doncaster as he’s a gelding but he could run in the Irish St Leger if all goes to plan then next year we could be thinking about races like the Melbourne Cup.
“He’s only a three-year-old and he’s been on the go a while but he’s so tough. He was a bit unfortunate in the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket, to be honest I felt he was possibly the best horse in the race and I was surprised there wasn’t an enquiry in truth.
“We were coming back at the winner at the line and he’s taking us across the track a little bit, but our horse ran another excellent race. We’ve had lots of offers for him too but we’ll see as Nick Bradley owns half of him as well.
“Honey Sweet definitely runs in the Group Three Oak Tree Stakes and she’s improving nicely. She was second in a Listed race at Carlisle last month and seven furlongs looks her trip.
“Breaking Light runs in the mile fillies’ handicap on Tuesday and she’s a lightly-raced horse who improved a lot for the wind op. She won well at Haydock recently and I’d be surprised if she didn’t have a lot more to offer.
“Rayong is a solid sprint handicapper and seems to be getting quicker if anything and we’ll have to see how Lethal Levi comes out of his race on Saturday, where he was a good winner at Newmarket, before deciding about the Stewards’ Cup.”
