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| Punter's Diary by Malcolm Heyhoe |
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| Updated: 27th July 2007 - GG.com |
Goodwood Tops the August Fare
You could travel a long way in the world and still fail to find a racecourse as beautiful as Goodwood, and, as one wag put it, you don’t need flamingoes, coconuts, lilies or goldfish to make it so. The Sussex Stakes on August 1 triggers four more days of top-class action at Glorious Goodwood and as ever this usually enthralling Group 1 contest over a mile features the customary clash between the milers of the different generations.
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Interestingly this season’s renewal is a very open affair and a case can be made for several contenders. Aidan O’Brien’s Excellent Art,
a game winner of the St
James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot represents
the younger generation but may well have his work cut out to beat Ramonti, the
Queen Anne winner while South Africa’s Asiatic Boy supplies more spice to an intriguing mix. The younger horse may just hold sway.
Thursday’s action on August 2 sees the stayers take centre stage
in the Goodwood Cup and Jamie Osborne will be hoping that Geordieland can
gain compensation for his defeat by Yeats at Royal Ascot. The latter’s
absence opens the race up and Northumberland Plate hero Juniper Girl could well be a surprise package while local trainer Amanda Perrett has set her sights on success with her smart older horse Tungsten Strike, who is well fancied by connections.
On the same day the speed machines are in motion for the King George Stakes and it may well pay to give Enticing another chance to confirm her early season brilliance. She landed the Molecomb Stakes over course and distance at this same meeting twelve months ago and she is a zippy sort for this lightning fast five furlongs.
Friday’s action on August 3 sees the season’s top mile handicappers
take centre stage in the Totesport
Mile. A high draw
is vital to any hope of success and whatever punters do, it is best not
to bet until the overnight declarations have been made and the effects
of the draw have been absorbed. Ed Dunlop’s King Of Argos looks
an ideal type for this year’s renewal while connections still believe
that Fantastic View has a big handicap in him this season.
Friday’s Richmond Stakes is always one of the
week’s more influential juvenile events while the Oak Tree Stakes is
often a seven-furlong thriller for fillies and mares and this year’s competitive renewal may well be won by John Gosden’s improving filly Costume. Goodwood’s
final day on August 4 puts the fillies into the spotlight with an ultra-hot
renewal of the Group 1 Nassau Stakes where Light Shift, Mandesha, Peeping Dawn and Naninna all hold strong chances.
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The Stewards’ Cup brings the curtain down on five days of top-class action on the Sussex Downs and once again it could pay to consider horses that have run well in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot and that approach sweeps into the net the likes of Something, Intrepid Jack, Beaver Patrol and Zidane with
the latter named looking the most likely winner of one of the season’s
most fiercely contested sprint handicaps.
The close of Goodwood’s glorious feast of racing signals a lull
in matters before the three-day Ebor festival clicks into gear towards
the end of August, but high-class racing takes place across the channel
in France with the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest holding
sway at picturesque Deauville on August 5. Peter Chapple-Hyam’s Dutch
Art is
a confident choice to atone for his defeat in the July Cup while just
under a week later Ascot hosts the Shergar
Cup series on August 11 and
Chris Wall’s supremely progressive sprinter Royal Rock is
expected to land the Shergar Cup Sprint. The stable
has won this race before with Paradise Isle.
August 11 is also the date of the Sweet Solera Stakes at
Newmarket and James Fanshawe’s Gone Fast is fully
expected to maintain the stable’s fine record in this race while
over at Deauville on the following day, August 12, Winker Watson seeks
to extend his unbeaten run in the Group1 Prix Morny where
he may well meet his match in crack French filly, Natagora, the
apple of Pascal Bary’s eye.
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The Group 1 Juddmonte International occupies pride
of place on August 21, the opening day of York’s wonderful three-day
Ebor meeting and this is not a race for wild-card outsiders. Well-backed
horses hold sway and only one winner of this race since 1994 has started
at bigger odds than 6-1 and that was last year’s winner Notnowcato,
who will be bidding for back-to-back victories against Derby hero Authorized who
has something to prove after his defeat by that same horse in the Eclipse
Stakes at Sandown in early July.
The Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes on August 21 is arguably
the season’s most important trial for the St Leger and six winners
of the final classic have taken part in the York showpiece. Punters should
pay heed to whatever Sir Michael Stoute runs in the Voltigeur and racecourse
rumour suggests that Arabian Gulf may well be the chubby
one’s St Leger candidate.
The Tote Ebor Handicap on August 22 is usually a race
for an improving horse that is nicely weighted and in recent times Luca
Cumani has patented this successful formula and the stable’s lightly-raced Purple
Moon and Samurai Way look likely Ebor types
this time while backers should look no further than Silkwood for
the winner of the Yorkshire Oaks over a mile and a half.
She may have too much speed for the 2006 heroine Alexandrova.
York’s final day on August 23 features the Nunthorpe Stakes over
five furlongs and as long as the ground rides fast Ireland’s Dandy
Man may at long last gain that elusive Group 1 prize. If the
rain persists then Reverence will be a strong fancy
to follow up last year’s success. August closes with the Celebration
Mile on August 26 at Goodwood and an in-form and improving miler
is what’s required to win this valuable prize.
Malcolm Heyhoe is GG.com's resident tipster contributing a daily "Best Bets" column and a weekly feature called "The Weekend File". He is also a tipster for the Racing Post Weekender, contributor to The Guardian and has written on racing for Sporting Life, Racing Post, Irish Examiner and The Independent newspaper.
Malcolm Heyhoe writes weekly horse racing articles for GG.COM-Horse racing betting, information, news, results and free daily tips
Archive July 2007
