Stradivarius back in tune

GLORIOUS Goodwood is always a week to savour for racing enthusiasts given the unique challenges of the course and the variety of racing on offer.

The feature race on the Tuesday is the Goodwood Cup where the star of the staying division Stradivarius will be aiming to complete a hat-trick of Cup successes having already won The Yorkshire Cup and Ascot Gold Cup for John Gosden.

With Frankie Dettori now suspended, Andrea Atzeni is reunited with Stradivarius having ridden him to victory in the race last year.

The market for the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday is headed by another Gosden superstar Without Parole who was an impressive winner of the St James’s Palace stakes and boasts a perfect four wins from four starts.

This unbeaten record is likely to face its sternest test from Expert Eye who has been supplemented for the race by Sir Michael Stoute at a cost of £70,000.

Mark Johnston and his team love Goodwood and once again he will be expecting to spearhead the challenge from the north.

The Stewards Cup rounds off the week on Saturday and this year’s renewal looks very competitive.

It will be very interesting to see if punters try to recoup their losses on Dreamfield who was backed if defeat was out of the question in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and then ran a respectable race in the July Cup.

The Go Racing In Yorkshire Festival concludes this weekend and again it has been a hugely successful showcase for racing in the North.

I will be at York this afternoon where Elarqam aims to get his season back on track in the 3.15 where, as a three-year-old, he receives weight from all his rivals.

If reproducing his two-year-old form he should be able to take full advantage.

At Ascot, Sir Michael Stoute holds a strong hand in the King George with Poet’s Word and Crystal Ocean and I expect it will be the latter who comes out on top.