David Ord looks back on the Qatar Goodwood Festival and pinpoints the main lessons learned including a potential shot at the title for Andrew Balding.
The kids are alright…
It had been a good summer for the Classic generation - even before Suesa's King George Stakes romp on Friday. St Mark’s Basilica set the ball rolling when flooring Mishriff and co in the Coral-Eclipse, Adayar continued the theme with his thumping win over the same horse in the King George and two three-year-olds fought out the finish to the Qatar Sussex Stakes on Wednesday.
Alcohol Free and Poetic Flare had the race to themselves inside the final furlong with their contemporary Snow Lantern running through for third. Now let’s get one thing clear, in the absence of Palace Pier they weren’t facing a vintage crop of older milers and there are bigger tests to come.
But the class of 2021 are rolling nicely through the summer. Brilliant dual Oaks heroine Snowfall is waiting in the wings for her first crack at the big boys and girls and with the meaty weight and sex allowance looks a major player in the Arc.
Before then we have the Juddmonte International where, at this stage, both the Eclipse and Sussex winners are bound for a York clash with Mishriff and the rest. If they can dish out another bloody nose or three on the Knavesmire then bragging rights will be well and truly won.
Suesa might roll into Yorkshire too and if the weather gods are kind to her - and not those who'd like to lose their jacket in the County Enclosure - she'd take the world of beating in the Coolmore Nunthorpe.
There's been a significant changing of the guard in the sprint division over the last few weeks. Starman emerged from the Darley July Cup as the best six furlong sprinter around - now Suesa is the fastest over five.
She'll have to go some to get even within shouting distance of what Battaash achieved in his own glorious career which was brought to a close less than 24 hours after he finished seventh behind the French flier in his bid to win the Group Two prize again.
There'll be tributes aplenty paid to him in the coming weeks. My own is a simple one. I never thought I'd see a sprinter faster than Dayjur in my time on this planet. On August 23, 2019 at York Battaash was.
We are the champions?
The sight of the Park Lane staff lining the streets to welcome Alcohol Free back to the Kingsclere Stables on Wednesday evening was a wonderful one on social media.
She’s back! pic.twitter.com/O3lCOKcccs
— Thoroughbred Tales (@ThoroughbrdTale) July 28, 2021
So too was the talk immediately afterwards of an Andrew Balding tilt at the trainers’ title. And why not?
At the time of writing he sits atop the table with around £700,0000 separating the top five, all of whom have accrued more than £2million in prize-money. He finished this week as top trainer at the meeting with five winners too.
Clearly Charlie Appleby is a major threat in terms of the championship. He’s a heritage handicap or two away from top spot and clearly has a number of big guns to target at the major summer and autumn prizes. But with Adayar bound for the Prix Niel and Arc, the Derby winner's contribution could be over.
Balding needs Alcohol Free to tick off another couple of big pots, a win in the Sky Bet Ebor would be a boost too and he has three who look set to get into the £500,000 York showpiece.
And then there’s a strong - very strong - Kingsclere two-year-old team. He may have lost his unbeaten record under a penalty in the slowest ground of the week in the Vintage Stakes, but Berkshire Shadow looks the sort to throw a bit more into the account yet.
Listen, Aidan O’Brien might well mop up the Group One prizes this autumn and be champion on both sides of the Irish Sea again, and Appleby has the ammunition to get over the line, but isn’t it great to see a different name at least in there fighting.
Hannon youngsters on a roll
Richard Hannon, like Balding, looks blessed with a strong crop of juveniles this season. He took July Stakes winner Lusail out of the Richmond because of the going but clearly he’s going to be a feature of the big sprinting prizes for the rest of the year.
So is Armor who hit the line very hard when scooting clear of his rivals in the Molecomb. He’s quick but looks ready for a step up to six furlongs and is another potential money-spinner for the same connections. He might be one to enjoy right now too.
For when asked about plans for 2022 with him after the sparkling success, Hannon was quick to point out he was a “this year horse”. Mehmas, for the same team, disappeared to the covering sheds after only one season on the racetrack, his Richmond Stakes the highlight of an eight-race career.
Armor has only had three runs to date but looks destined for better things and were he to win a Gimcrack – or even better Middle Park – then perhaps the urge to race on next year may not be that strong.
Especially with Mehmas emerging as one of the hottest sprinting stallions around right now.
Heart goes out to…
The Johnston team. The sight of Sir Ron Priestley leaving the racecourse in the horse ambulance after a typically gallant run when third in the Goodwood Cup was the saddest of the week. The good news is his injury is not life-threatening, but it’s very possible he’s run his last race. Then on Friday, Rochester House was pulled up sharply a mile out in the opening staying handicap.
These incidents followed hot on the heels of the setback suffered by Gold Cup winner Subjectivist who too may never race again.
He and Sir Ron Priestley looked set to be staples in the big staying prizes for a few seasons to come. It’s a tough game.
Big dice stay in the pocket
It’s a line that is often quoted. John Gosden, on aiming Lingfield Derby Trial winner Percussionist at Epsom rather than a good handicap or two in 2004, said: “I prefer in life to throw the big dice.”
He said a little more in fact but I kid myself there might be a family audience reading this so we’ll concentrate on those nine words.
But on Tuesday there was no rolling. Stradivarius was taken out of the Goodwood Cup after connections walked the track following the first race. Clearly it was testing ground, we knew that with a going description of heavy, and they wanted to do what’s right for the horse.
They’ve done a wonderful job with that over the years – here’s a seven-year-old entire who has dominated his division for four-and-a-half years.
But we’re coming towards the end now. Yes, things didn’t fall his way in the Gold Cup at Ascot but Stradivarius has won one of his last five starts, that being the Group Three Sagaro Stakes at Ascot.
How many more chances will we get to see the great horse race again? York, Doncaster and Ascot for QIPCO Champions Day (ground permitting) look like being the three.
And what was on offer at Goodwood was the chance to win a fifth successive Cup at this wonderful track. His whole career has been remarkable, but that would arguably have been his defining achievement. The weather gods robbed him of the chance, or at least persuaded connections not to chance their arm.
The way Trueshan won it’s hard to be confident Stradivarius would have cut him down but the memory of his Gold Cup win at Royal Ascot in soft ground in 2019 still burns bright. It seemed a shame not to give him a shot at it.
Fairytale of West Sussex
The feel-good factor was back at Goodwood – and it wasn’t just the return of a big, party-loving crowd.
The success of Lady Bowthorpe in the Nassau Stakes gladdened the heart. William Jarvis is one of the most popular trainers in the business and 27 years after his last top-flight success, here he was back on the big stage.
His tears of frustration at her luckless defeat in the Falmouth Stakes were replaced with ones of joy after she thundered home to score under Kieran Shoemark.
Twelve months previously it was Marcus Tregoning’s turn to emerge from the Group One wilderness on the Sussex Downs and Jarvis thoroughly deserved his own day in the sun.
It would be wonderful if the fantastic story of Lady Bowthorpe acted as a catalyst for more big-race success for the trainer – who knows more than most that his is an industry where fashion dictates where the big numbers go.
“I have never lost faith in myself as a trainer,” he said afterwards. “Quite a lot of other people may well have done which is why we’ve only got 28 or 29 horses.”
Hopefully a few more might be believers again now.
Education, education, education
But for all the Group One stars who strutted their stuff on the Downs this week, maybe the brightest of all wasn't even in a Group One contest.
Baaeed only began his racing career at Leicester in June but he was soon doing a very good impression of being a top-notch colt in the making.
Friday's Group Three Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes was his next gradual step up the ladder and when you treat a Dee Stakes winner in El Drama with contempt, winning by six-and-a-half lengths with any amount in hand, the cat is well and truly out of the bag.
He's in the Celebration Mile back here next month but William Haggas, with his dander up in the winners' enclosure afterwards, was all about going for gold. The Prix Jacques Le Marois and Prix du Moulin loom large on the horizon. Palace Pier and co - be warned.
And what a moment for Shadwell Estate to find such a colt. A homebred son of Sea The Stars, from the Height Of Fashion family so beloved by and successful for their late founder Hamdan Al Maktoum, he is everything the stud farm was created for.
The news that Sheikha Hissa Bint Hamdan Al Maktoum was to oversee the organisation and carry on following the sad death of her father earlier in the year was widely celebrated.
Perhaps in her first year she's found a horse who will not only shine on the track but carry on her father's legacy back at the stud he created in 1987. Poignant and wonderful.
