1 Cotai Glory 3/1
2 Fast Act 10/1
3 Beacon 10/11F
8 ran Distances: ½l, hd, 1½l
TIME 57.30s (slow by 0.30s)

Cotai Glory makes most in the Molecomb; Beacon didn't get the best of runs but could hardly be described as unlucky.

Jockey George Baker: "I fancied him quite a bit today. He's a very quick horse and he's done very well. Racing has really improved him."

Trainer Charlie Hills: "The horses have been running strongly the last few weeks and we can look forward to a good back end of the season."

Cotai Glory

Trainer Charlie Hills celebrated his first Glorious Goodwood winner when Cotai Glory broke the two-year-old course record in the Group Three bet365 Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood this afternoon.

The son of Exceed And Excel held on gamely inside the final furlong to repel the challenge of the Kevin Ryan-trained Fast Act by a half-length, with Beacon, sent off the 10/11 favourite, a head further back in third.

Cotal Glory recorded a time of 57.30s, bettering Requinto’s time of 57.51s set in the 2011 bet365 Molecomb Stakes.

Hills said: “Cotai Glory has a lot of speed and we knew the track would suit him. We were just slightly worried that his last race was quite recent and today might come too soon.

“He is quite highly-strung but, with racing, he has certainly got better. He’s all about speed – he’s from a very fast family in his pedigree.

“He pays a serious compliment to Limato, who’s a very good horse and won very well at Newbury. I would certainly want to keep following him this year.

“I think we will have a look at Doncaster and possibly the Flying Childers. He is also in the Prix Morny and there is also the Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot. I think he got the six furlongs last time but we will have a look and choose our way with him now.

“He’s had quite a lot of racing so we might just take our time and let him mature a bit more. He is a very fast horse.

“The horses have been running consistently well over the last three or four weeks and we can look forward to a good back end of the year.”

A stewards’ inquiry considered possible interference between runner-up Fast Act and Beacon, but the placings remained unaltered.

Beacon
© Racehorse Photos

Harry Herbert, who heads Highclere Thoroughbred Racing whose Albany Syndicate owns Beacon, said: “He was a bit unlucky, possibly, and Hughesie said he would have gone very close otherwise - and is a bit frustrated.

“The ground was plenty quick enough for him, particularly going down the hill. He’s run really well and we will have to consider stepping him up to six furlongs on a flatter track.”

Kevin Ryan trains one of the best three-year-old sprinters in Hot Streak, but he admitted today’s second Fast Act – a chestnut like his stablemate – has some way to go before comparisons with that colt can be justified.

Ryan said: “I’m delighted with him [Fast Act]. He is starting to grow up and is improving with every run. He jumped from the stalls and got on the wrong leg today, which meant he was lugging away from the other horses, but Jamie (Spencer) said that once he changed legs and got on an even keel he finished really well. That may have cost him.

“He has loads of options, including a five-furlong race at York and the DBS race over six furlongs at Doncaster. There are also races abroad – he’s improving, and we’ve learned that like the whole family he needs fast ground. This place can be overpowering for a horse, but he’s shown today that he can handle it.

“He’s not Hot Streak yet, but he is a very good horse in his own right.”

Bet365 Molecomb Stakes
£50,000 added, 2yo only, 5f, Class 1
8 ran
Going: Good to Firm