The five-day Glorious Goodwood meeting gets underway Tuesday. The feature
race of the opening day is the seven-furlong Group 2, £140,000 Lennox Stakes
which has attracted seven runners, headed by Libranno, successful on his last
two starts, classic-placed Foxtrot Romeo and Chachamaidee from Sir Henry Cecil’s
Newmarket stable.
Four-year-old Libranno is trained by Richard Hannon, the leading handler at
Glorious Goodwood in three of of the last four years, and has a liking for the
Sussex course, having been successful in the Group 2 Richmond Stakes as a
juvenile and the Group 3 Supreme Stakes last year, both over seven furlongs.
Richard Hughes, in the saddle on those occasions, takes the ride again and
was also on board when Libranno won the Group 3 Criterion at Newmarket on June
30 over seven furlongs and succeeded in a Salisbury six-furlong listed race 13
days earlier. Hannon and Hughes combined to win the Lennox ast year with Strong
Suit and in 2008 with Paco Boy.
Foxtrot Romeo, a three-year-old son of Danehill Dancer, ran well to be sixth
behind Most Improved in the St James’s Palace , beaten four lengths. The Bryan
Smart-trained colt started this season by finishing a terrific second to Power
in the Group 1 Irish Two Thousand Guineas in May.
“I’ve been absolutely over the moon with him this season,”
trainer Bryan Smart told PA Sport. “He’s been in fantastic form
since Ascot and I’m really looking forward to the race.”
The five-year-old mare Chachamaidee was only beaten a neck by Joviality in
the Group 2 Windsor Forest over a mile at Royal Ascot last month and already
knows what it is like to win over course and distance at Glorious Goodwood,
having captured the Group 3 Oaks Tree last year.
Edinburgh Knight is one of the four other runners and the five-year-old’s
trainer Paul D’Arcy is hoping that William Buick, the jockey of the moment, will
make it third time lucky on the Selkirk gelding.
“I gave William his first winner but have not had one off him since so
hopefully the next will be on Tuesday,” the Newmarket trainer explained.
Buick first partnered Edinburgh Knight in the Criterion when the partnership
went down by a half-ength to Libranno and then last time out when beaten the
same margin by Field of Dream in the Summer Double International Handicap at
Ascot on July 21.
D’Arcy thinks the most recent run was Edinburgh Knight’s best and considers
him an unlucky loser.
“Edinburgh Knight was hampered coming out of the stalls at Ascot and got
stopped in his run over a furlong out but was only beaten by a fast-finishing
horse on the other side of the course,” he said. “He keeps hitting the crossbar,
which is frustrating, but he is running well. I said to the owners early in his
career that he would not be a proper racehorse until he was five.
“He has run before at Goodwood, in last year’s Stewards’ Cup over six
furlongs. He used to go flat out in his races which is why he was sprinting but
we worked with him and he now settles. He just gets a mile but is suited by
seven furlongs.
“My main worry on Tuesday is that it is going to be a bit of a tactical race,
with little or no pace. It is now up to the jockey.”
The opening day of Glorious Goodwood also features the Group 3, £60,000
Gordon Stakes over 1 1/2 miles and five of the seven runners hold entries in the
final classic of the British season, the St Leger.
Michelangelo, trained by John Gosden and partnered by Buick, Frankel’s
brother Noble Mission, Group 3 Queen’s Vase third Ed De Gas, Encke and the Andrew
Balding-trained Minimise Risk have entries in the Leger.
Farhaan, locally
trained by John Dunlop, and German raider Girolamo are the other two runners.
The latter was third in the Group 1 Deutsches
Derby at Hamburg, which was made to look even better on
Sunday when the winner Pastorius
followed up in the Group 1 Bayerisches Zuchtrennen.
Fast two-year-olds get their chance for glory in the Group 3, £40,000 Group 3 Molecomb Stakes over five furlongs, for which there are 12 runners, with
the Hannon-trained pair Lyric Ace and Dominate having good chances.
Morawij has shaped as a progressive colt so far and is likely to start
favorite for the Molecomb. Fourth behind the high-class Reckless Abandon in the
Group 2 Norfolk over this trip at Royal
Ascot June 21, he scored with authority in Sandown’s
Dragon Stakes July 6.
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