Qatar Gordon Stakes |
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| Group 3, Goodwood 15:00 £175,000 added, 3yo only, 1m 3f 218y, Class 1  |
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| Thursday 1st August 2019 | |
1 Nayef Road 9/1
2 Constantinople 2/1F
3 Spanish Mission 11/2
9 ran Distances: nk, hd, 1l
Time: 2m 35.67s (slow by 2.67s)
A battle of a finish to the @Q_REC Qatar Gordon Stakes!
— Goodwood Racecourse (@Goodwood_Races) August 1, 2019
Nayef Road responds well under @SilvDSousa to land the prize for the @Johnston_Racing team#QGF #GloriousGoodwood pic.twitter.com/JgL549CUd2
Whilst his rivals struggled to handle the undulations of Goodwood, Nayef Road kept straight and true under jockey Silvestre de Sousa to land the Qatar Gordon Stakes, which made trainer Mark Johnston the winning-most trainer in the history of the Qatar Goodwood Festival with 81 successes.
The three-year-old son of Galileo displayed guts and determination, characteristics routinely associated with Johnston's horses, in the closing stages of the 12-furlong event to register a neck victory over the Aidan O'Brien-trained 2/1 favourite Constantinople.
Winning rider De Sousa remarked: "Nayef Road answered every question. It was a real battle out there and he put his heart into it.
"I always had a handy position and was quite happy with the way he travelled.
"I had him settled and then the pace picked up from just going by the bushes when they switch courses, but I was always happy.
"Mark Johnston's horses are so well trained. They come here to win and give everything for you."
"Babyish" was how trainer Aiden O'Brien described the run of second-placed Constantinople, who came home a neck adrift of Nayef Road.
When asked about the chances of the Constantinople running at Doncaster O'Brien said: "The reality is that he is a horse for next year. He is a baby which is why we have always been going gentle with him. We have been trying to underface him rather than overface him.
"We will see how he is in a couple of months, I am not sure he will stay far enough to be a Cup horse.
"You can see how babyish he is by the way he runs, even when he got there he wandered about.
"He is massive, a very big horse. We will go gentle and see."
Gordon Stakes
£175,000 added, 3yo only, 1m 3f 218y, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Good
1 (6) Nayef Road 3 9-1 Mark Johnston Silvestre De Sousa 9/1
2 (7) nk Constantinople 3 9-4 A P O'Brien Ryan Moore 2/1F
3 (2) hd Spanish Mission 3 9-4 David Simcock Jamie Spencer 11/2
4 (8) 1 Floating Artist 3 9-1 Richard Hannon Pat Dobbs 25/1
5 (3) 2¼ Dal Horrisgle 3 9-1 William Haggas Daniel Tudhope 8/1
6 (9) 2½ Technician 3 9-1 Martyn Meade Oisin Murphy 16/1
7 (4) nk Jalmoud 3 9-1 Charlie Appleby James Doyle 4/1
8 (5) 1¼ Leo De Fury 3 9-1 Mrs John Harrington Shane Foley 8/1
9 (1) 29 Cap Francais 3 9-1 Ed Walker Andrea Atzeni 14/1
