Timeform's Goodwood Course guide and key stats

Timeform’s Goodwood Course Guide

Goodwood is a right-handed, undulating track. There are two bends; all races up to a mile and a quarter use the lower bend, and those in excess of eleven furlongs use the top bend.

Although there is a five-furlong run-in from the top bend, the turns and the pronounced downhill gradients make Goodwood essentially a sharp track, favouring handy types, particularly in the shorter-distance races.

The five-furlong course is one of the fastest in the country, meaning speedy sorts often have an advantage. A notoriously tricky course, those held up regularly meet trouble in the straight, particularly when kept to the rail.

Leading active trainers at Goodwood

Sorted by strike rate since the start of 2018 (minimum 25 runners)

• Charlie Appleby 27.4% (20-73)
• John Quinn 23.3% (7-30)
• John & Thady Gosden* 21.3% (23-108)
• David Menuisier 20.6% (15-73)
• William Haggas 20.1% (30-149)

*includes data when John Gosden was sole licence holder

Other points to consider

• Andrew Balding leads the way by number of winners at Goodwood over the last five years with 43 winners from 263 runners at a strike rate of 16.4%, ahead of William Haggas (30) and Richard Hannon (23). Mark Johnston trained 36 winners at Goodwood as sole licence holder in that time, along with another 4 jointly with son Charlie in 2022.
• George Baker’s huge level stakes profit of 83.25 is boosted by his 125/1 winner at Glorious Goodwood in 2018, while local trainer David Menuisier (29.13) and John Quinn (27.74) with his selective raids from Yorkshire are profitable trainers with a higher strike rate.
• Charlie Appleby was the most successful trainer at Glorious Goodwood in 2022 with 5 winners, including New London who was the trainer’s third winner of the Gordon Stakes.

Leading active jockeys at Goodwood

Sorted by strike rate since the start of 2018 (minimum 25 runners)

• William Buick 23.1% (40-173)
• Benoit de la Sayette 21.4% (6-28)
• Oisin Murphy 18.8% (47-250)
• Jamie Spencer 18.5% (12-65)
• Adam Kirby 17.9% (12-67)

Other points to consider

• As well as having excellent strike rates, Oisin Murphy (47) and William Buick (40) have ridden the most winners, ahead of Jim Crowley (31 winners, 16.2%) and Tom Marquand (29 winners, 12.7%).
• Among jockeys with a better than 10% strike rate, Jamie Spencer has been the most profitable to follow with a level stakes profit of 40.12, with Jason Watson (31.00) and Danny Tudhope (25.00) also rewarding blind support.
• William Buick was the top jockey at Glorious Goodwood last year with 6 winners, including all 5 of those trained by Charlie Appleby, while Jim Crowley, Ryan Moore and Tom Marquand had 3 apiece. Crowley’s winners included Baaeed in the Sussex Stakes, while Moore won another of the meeting’s highlights, the Goodwood Cup, on Kyprios.

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