«MARCUS TOWNEND
Here Comes When sprang a 20-1 shock in the Sussex Stakes yesterday as Goodwood turned far more grim than glorious. rain bucketed down in this corner of West Sussex, 22mm of it before the feature race of the meeting.
That was enough to ensure the much anticipated head-to-head between Godolphin’s ribchester and Coolmore’s Churchill did not take place with trainer Aidan O’Brien pulling out the latter as the ground turned testing.
richard Fahey, trainer of ribchester, probably wished he had taken the same course of action after his William Buickridden 8-13 favourite went down by a neck to mudlark Here Comes When, trained by Andrew Balding and ridden by champion jockey Jim Crowley.
Here Comes When is an admirable racehorse but, at seven years old, Balding and his owners Jim and Fitri Hay had concluded a Group One win was probably out of reach.
Balding had even declared him for Friday’s Betfred Mile Handicap when he would have carried top weight. He will miss that race now.
Yesterday’s win earned Here Comes When £560,000. In six previous seasons he had won £280,000. Balding, winning his first Group One since elm Park landed the 2014 racing Post Trophy, said: ‘He has always been a handy horse, but needs these conditions. We were lucky the race fell away a little bit but he still had to run to a very good level to win it.’
Crowley, landing his second Group One race of the season after success in the eclipse Stakes on Ulysses, said: ‘It’s amazing. I was going through the runners in the weighing room before the race, ticking them off and saying this won’t go on the ground. We were hoping to be placed. It is proper heavy jumping ground and the horse toughed it out.’
Despite stablemate Toscanini being in the line-up as a pacemaker, ribchester made the running. But after looking like being swallowed up over a furlong out as Here Comes When edged past him and then drifted in front of him, causing Buick to ease up, ribchester rallied as the line approached.
Buick said: ‘I was not comfortable from the threefurlong marker to the two. That is normally the strong part of his race. I was surprised they got to me. He is a gutsy horse but it is terrible conditions. It’s heavy ground and not nice.’
Fahey said: ‘I didn’t think about pulling him out but I was extremely worried. Bookmakers love conditions like this. They get results and they have got one today.’
Bookmakers are certainly loving this meeting so far.
After winners at odds of 100-1, 50-1, 33-1 and 20-1 on day one, with only one winning favourite in seven races, yesterday kicked off with Cool Sky taking the Goodwood Handicap at 25-1.
There were no winning favourites and 25 non-runners, including US hope Happy Like A Fool pulling out of the Molecomb Stakes won by P J McDonald-ridden Havana Grey.
The weather has also led to three of the leading contenders — Nezwaah, Shutter Speed and Wuheida — being pulled out of this afternoon’s Nassau Stakes.
O’Brien will decide this morning if favourite Winter will take her chance.