Take Without Parole to make Goodwood Glorious this year
MANTLE: JOHN GUNTHER’S RUNNER COULD BECOME THE SEASON’S SUPERSTAR THREE-YEAR-OLD
Beat The Bush and Lightning Spear could help fill punters’ wallets. London
Goodwood has never looked more Glorious than it does now, and there is no more picturesque racecourse in the world. Apart from Royal Ascot, it is the UK’s only five-day Festival, and with the crazy summer temperatures returning and the thunderstorms hopefully now past-tense, Goodwood, overlooked by the rolling Sussex Downs, are expecting bumper crowds.
Synonymous with strawberries and cream and panama hats, this midsummer equine garden party is traditional for Panama hats and Pimms, though punters might enjoy an upgrade to champagne if WITHOUT PAROLE does us the expected turn in today’s £1m Group 1 Sussex Stakes.
Apart from Deauville-bound Alpha Centauri, heroine of both the Irish 2000 Guineas and Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes, we are struggling to find a superstar three-year-old, but the classic generation have emerged triumphant in this race seven times in the last 10 years, so I’m sticking with the younger brigade and rowing in with WITHOUT PAROLE.
Andrea Atzeni replaces the suspended Frankie Dettori on the unbeaten Without Parole, who made the transition from Listed winner to being the toast of the top table in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Denied a run in the Guineas because of a bruised foot, Without Parole, who is owned by John Gunther, breeder of this year’s American Triple Crown hero Justify, has always been high up in the pecking order at John Gosden’s Newmarket stable.
Granted, he only held Gustav Klimt by a neck at the Royal meeting, but Gosden told me the plan had been to wait longer on such an inexperienced colt, with Plan B having to be brought into action when US Navy Flag capitulated quickly half-way up the straight.
Gosden said: ”We’ve always rated Without Parole, so I had no qualms about throwing him in at the deep end at Ascot, and I still maintain that he’ll be even more effective when he gets a longer tow into the race.”
Gustav Klimt, who was disappointing in both the English and Irish Guineas, barely gets the 1600m, while I’m also adamant that Expert Eye, so impressive here as a two-year-old and who sliced through the field like a knife through butter to win the Jersey Stakes at Ascot, will find 1400m to be his optimum trip.
So my other two to toss into the mix are Beat The Bank, who was all dressed up with nowhere to go when an unlucky sixth in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot (he then gained compensation back there in the Summer Mile) and veteran Lightning Spear, who runs his best races on this track, having won two Celebration Miles and also finished third in this race 12 months ago.
I also like COEUR DE LION, whose chance in the 4200m marathon which kick-starts day two, has definitely been enhanced by the 20mm of rain which has fallen since the week-end.
MAKING MIRACLES, whose North Yorkshire trainer Mark Johnston has a brilliant record at this meeting and carries plenty of stable-confidence for the 2400m handicap, and the speedy Royal Ascot winner SOLDIER’S CALL in the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes are also worth investing in.
Tomorrow’s highlight is the Group 1 Nassau Stakes (2000m) for fillies, and with Sir Michael Stoute still on a high after last Saturday’s epic one-two in the King George at Ascot, I won’t be opposing his Coronation Stakes third VERACIOUS.
She had been off the track for eight months before running a corker to finish third to Europe’s best miler (1600m) Alpha Centauri, and, being by Frankel, this longer trip might even bring about a bit of improvement.
Richard Hannon enjoys this meeting as much as his namesake father did over four decades, and the pair of them have seven Richmond Stakes trophies on their Herridge mantelpiece.
They might have to find room for an eighth as I am sweet on the chance of the stable’s NEVERLAND ROCK.
He is bred to be a sprinter, being a son of Wes Ward’s flying machine No Nay Never, and could be the answer.
The other Group 2 on day three is the Lillie Langtry Stakes (2800m) for fillies.
And, though God Given has the best form in the race, having finished a brave second in the Lancashire Oaks, PRECIOUS RAMOTSWE was third at Haydock and had she not drifted right in the final 200m there would not have been much between them.
Consequently, I can’t see why bookmakers have Precious Ramotswe twice the price of Luca Cumani’s filly, so we should accept this rare display of generosity from the layers.
Friday’s card starts with a real teaser for the Group 3 Glorious Stakes, but SECOND STEP can boast three wins and four seconds in his last seven races, and he’ll do for me.
There are few tougher handicaps than the Golden Mile, with a low draw always being preferable, but I suggest we have a small Eachway interest on northern raider ESCOBAR.
He has been in great form all summer, and with the smart Tigre Du Terre having been sold to Hong Kong last week for what the previous owners described as “an astronomical sum of money”, maybe there was no disgrace in Escobar finishing second to him at Sandown last time.
BATTAASH, mugged on the line by Blue Point at Royal Ascot, is one of the best sprinters in Europe and looks a must for the Group 2 King George Stakes over the flying 1000m.
Come Saturday we might need all the help we can get to find the winner of the Stewards Cup, the 1200m cavalry charge up the straight track.
However, Andrew Balding’s FOXTROT LADY has done us proud all summer.
Pitting a three-year-old filly against her elders in a 28-runner sprint handicap is a tough ask, but Foxtrot Lady has improved 15kg this season, and connections compare her favourably with Lochsong and Dancing Star, both of whom won for owner-breeder Jeff Smith.