Qatar Goodwood Festival Awards including Trainer of the Week and Race of the Week

Horse of the Week

‘He’s no Baaeed, and he’s certainly no Frankel’. That was the general gist I was getting from fellow fans and one or two curmudgeonly colleagues about Bow Echo heading into Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes and you could tell Billy Loughnane enjoyed silencing those remaining doubters by blasting home down the outside inside the final furlong to beat Gstaad - again.

He’s a perfect six from six, trained by the affable George Boughey and ridden by a 20-year-old who looks to be growing up almost from race to race alongside this special colt. Heroes and villains are all you need to make an enjoyable tale and, right now at least, this is a team we can all get behind.

When you compare it to the pretty hollow feeling that engulfed Goodwood after last year’s 150/1 Sussex shocker when the pacemaker nicked it, this year’s feature contest was an altogether more glorious occasion. And whisper it quietly, but Baaeed’s Timeform rating of 137 is actually within touching distance, Bow Echo having been bumped to 133 (from 131p).

WATCH: Brilliant Bow Echo storms to Sussex glory

Juvenile of the Week

A big-race victory for Oliver Cole and Kaiya Fraser courtesy of Dr Rascal in Tuesday’s Vintage came with a proper feelgood factor, the son of Sottsass maintaining his own unblemished record with a narrow defeat of Aidan O’Brien’s Haffner and Charlie Appleby-trained Al Hudaiba. The last-named, conceding a 3lb penalty, just about comes out as the best horse in the race and it’s not hard to see him developing into a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf horse if Appleby is that way inclined.

O’Brien’s Richmond winner on Thursday, Man's Best Friend, has plenty of potential to scale greater heights as the year goes on too, but my vote for top two-year-old goes to Wednesday’s striking Molecomb winner Pershaada. The winning time might not have impressed everyone but she was electric in beating Adonius by two lengths and you could tell from the reaction of the runner-up's trainer, Rebecca Menzies, that they knew they'd simply bumped into an extremely fast filly on the day.

A shot at the Nunthorpe for the winner was mooted in the immediate aftermath and that’s just what you want to see emerging from these races. The Middleham Park crew, who went close to a famous Goodwood-York double when The Platinum Queen chased home Highfield Princess in 2022, don’t seem likely to shirk such a challenge, even if you’re going back to 2007 for the last time a juvenile took home the top sprinting prize at the Ebor Festival.

Jockey of the Week

Raw talent is one thing, but as countless sportsmen and women have found over time, it’s being able to deal with the tricks of the mind during moments of intense pressure that take any individual to the next level. Whether it’s fielding in front of the Western Terrace, or lining up a Ryder Cup putt, arms and legs can do weird things if one's mental fortitude can’t measure up to the physical capability.

Billy Loughnane isn’t the only one in the Weighing Room seemingly with every tool in the box, and he clearly has the horse of a lifetime at present, but in probably the biggest race of his life, it takes something unique to come out on top in a tactical battle with Ryan Moore and William Buick – plus a soupçon of Christophe Soumillon for good measure.

Adrenaline coursing, Loughnane pulled it off with a bit of dash, then gave a bunch of very well measured post-race interviews, went back to his peg, before booting home 14/1 shot French Affair in the sprint handicap half an hour later. Whatever it is when it comes to elite sportspeople, the lad Johnny Murtagh has branded as "racing’s Lamine Yamal" has certainly got it.

Race of the Week

Alright, alright, the Sussex Stakes was a bit good. Nine Group 1 winners collided in a 12-runner race run at a strong gallop on quick ground, with the two Classic-winning three-year-olds coming to the fore. Of course that would be most people’s default race of the week, but these are my awards and I’ll take my ball home with me if you don’t want to play by my rules.

American Affair is back! Am I right? Not as exciting? Let’s hear it for Saffie Osborne in the last gasp on Twilight Calls?! Cieren Fallon extracting Sing The Blues from a sticky spot towards the far side in one of the myriad fillies’ handicaps run this week?

OK, what about that Stewards’ Enquiry after Infraad and Hatteen’s ding-dong in Wednesday’s opener? Any votes for Dylan Browne McMonagle on Enceladus outmanoeuvring Colin Keane and Geryon in Thursday’s Gordon, or a silky-smooth Diamond Necklace in the Nassau?

It was the Sussex wasn’t it.

Mad Moment of the Week

‘Loose horse drama’ isn’t really a tag any rider would choose to be associated with but unfortunately for Hector Crouch, who went out the side door after 50/1 chance Lady Roisia stumbled soon after the stalls opened in last month’s Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, more misfortune befell him at Goodwood.

This time it was Amiloc, quietly fancied in certain quarters to run a big race back at his favourite haunt in the Goodwood Cup, who dispensed with Crouch shortly after the start. The BHA stewards report states that the jockey's leg caught the stalls after Amiloc “jumped left-handed”, so quite how that differs dramatically from the Benvenuto Cellini case in the Derby we’ll never really know.

Amiloc was deemed a runner and the horse went on to play his part too, preceding the front-running Trawlerman before the turn up the hill and then getting in his way not once but twice – most significantly when cutting back across towards the far rail and basically ending the dour Godolphin horse’s chances of reversing Gold Cup form with Scandinavia in the blink of an eye.

It wasn’t quite what you’d call a farce – and the winner was most likely far superior regardless – but it was an unsatisfactory rematch between the big two who had fought out one of the races of the season just six weeks earlier.

Handicapper of the Week

Mayo might have upset the odds in last weekend’s All-Ireland Final but the rallying cry of ‘Ciarrai Abu!’ could still be heard loud and clear after Goodwood's opening race on Thursday. And what a remarkably well-handicapped horse – of that name – he has proven to be.

It wasn't all plain-sailing, mind, the quirky son of Study Of Man causing quite a delay to the Coral Kincsem Heritage Handicap having unshipped jockey George Wood on the way to the start.

“He’s fairly trying,” said an understated Harry Eustace, trainer of the three-year-old gelding. “His work rider tends to fall off plenty, through no fault of his own. But through the race it was very smooth and George said he probably arrived sooner than he wanted to. But he was quite eyecatching through the run, I thought.”

Not half, Harry.

Owned by OTI Racing, he’s bound for Australia at the end of the year by all accounts and Eustace is understandably keen to keep hold of him for at least one more decent pot in this part of the world before he heads Down Under. It’s the ones who tend to keep a bit back for themselves who so often stay ahead of the assessor, and Ciarrai Abu will almost certainly remain on the right side of things even after his mark is shunted up into the 90s.

'Want Another Go At That' of the Week

It hasn't been a great year for Godolphin to this point and it's hard to know whether William Buick's confidence has been knocked ever so slightly, but he won't want to look back at Talk Of New York's fast-finishing second in Friday's HKJC World Pool Thoroughbred Stakes (you can do just that via the full replay below if you wish).

Most TV pundits were rightly at pains to praise the straightforward nature of eventual winner Shayem in the aftermath of the race but fair play to Martin Dwyer who blamed Buick for getting in a tactical muddle. Racing TV colleague James Millman did go on to suggest that it was almost a carbon-copy of the 2025 Sussex, when Qirat almost used the Ballydoyle pacemaker (Serengeti) as his own, largely forgotten about by the rest of the chasing pack, and that probably sums it up best on reflection.

Godolphin second-string Catullus set what appeared to be reasonable fractions out in front under Billy Loughnane, with Clifford Lee following on Shayem, but rather than allowing the 2/5 favourite to slide on and sit in their slipstream, Buick fought with his feisty, admittedly, partner who didn't really settle until they started to round the turn towards the home straight.

With about a dozen lengths to make up on turning in, Talk Of New York then took a while to engage top gear - by which point it was all too late. He ate up the ground really strongly inside the final furlong but the bird had flown and top marks to Lee for judging it to a nicety.

"At points you could say did he handle the track?" Charlie Appleby said of the runner-up. "But the only thing I would say is asking him to quicken from where he was, was always going to be hard."

Buick would definitely go back and try again if he could, but showed his class by bouncing back with victory on Into the Light later on the day.

Eyecatcher of the Week

Having fancied Walsingham at the Dante Festival in May on the back of an impressive Pontefract win the previous month, my heart was briefly in my mouth as the 100/1 shot threatened to play a leading role in Friday's Coral Golden Mile.

In the end, his challenge down the outside just petered out in the final furlong but he'd done more work than most to get there in the first place, having been drawn in 16, and connections will clearly be buoyed by the effort on the back of his disappointing runs at Epsom and Ayr during June and July respectively.

Walsingham was officially 2lb 'wrong' here having been reassessed since finishing last of 10 north of the border and he's clearly qualified to run in far less competitive races than this. David O'Meara will no doubt have a plan and the fact he won at Ascot on soft ground last autumn bodes well for the coming weeks and months.

WATCH: Walsingham takes the eye in fifth as Archivist wins the Coral Golden Mile

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