Goodwood clerk of the course Ed Arkell has been talking about the build-up to Glorious.
Ed Arkell is hopeful Glorious Goodwood’s Sussex Stakes could be one of flat racing’s contests of the season – but says it is just one of many highlights to look forward to.
It will be a Qatar Goodwood Festival like no other Glorious week on the South Downs, with no paying members of the public allowed in.
Goodwood hope they may be allowed to admit at least some of annual racecourse members. Arkell says crowds or not, the racing itself is looking set to be special.
A host of top-performing horses are set to feature in the showpiece of the week, the Sussex Stakes, while Battaash and Stradivarius are both due to return to try to win their respective races for a fourth straight year.
Arkell, who has been in charge of a skeleton crew overseeing the upkeep of the course in lockdown, is confident field sizes and quality will hold up in this most odd of horse-racing seasons.
“I don’t think field sizes will be affected – racing will have been up and running plenty long enough that it shouldn’t have an impact. People are keen to run,” he said. “We’re very excited to see Battaash and Stradivarius – following their Royal Ascot successes – being aimed at coming back to Goodwood and each try to do the fourtimer in their respective races, the Goodwood Cup and the King George.
“There are various exciting horses ooking like they will be coming – Siskin, who won the Irish 2000 Guineas, is a likely contender in the Sussex Stakes and Pinatubo looks like he’ll be coming back to the Sussex as well. He obviously likes the track. He won the Vintage last year.
“It’ll be interesting to see what other Irish runners we have. There has been a little bit of interest from overseas horses but we’ll need to see the various quarantines and what the government guidelines are as to whether or not they’ll be able to come.
“There has been all sorts of chat about the Sussex Stakes being one of the races of the season – with the horses that are being aimed at it – and wouldn’t it be wonderful if that is the case?
“It’ll be a shame that people won’t be able to see it (in person at the racecourse), but they’ll be able to watch on ITV Racing – who I think are doing an amazing job of portraying the sport and providing everybody with the insight.
“With the way the race programme has changed, with the Derby having been run after Royal Ascot, it’s thrown things up in the air. It could be fantastic for Goodwood that we get a lot more of the top quality horses because things are being run a little differently.”