“Welcome to my first preview of this year’s Goodwood Festival where I’m taking a look at the first Group 1 of the week which is the Goodwood Cup. The style of this preview will be a normal one, where I go through the runners and give a prediction at the end.
Recapping on what’s been going on the site as of late, some nice priced winners have been had. Including a 190/1 treble going in on the first day of the Galway Festival on Monday night, as well as 9/1 and 6/1 winners landing on Friday. There was also an 80/1 treble at Sandown last week.
I’ll have Goodwood & Galway Punts up all week on here and the Facebook page.”
– Jordan
Race Preview
This year’s renewal of the Goodwood Cup is headed by the horse who has won the last three runnings of the race which is of course the world-class stayer Stradivarius. John Gosden’s six-year-old will team up with Frankie Dettori once more in a bid for a fourth win in the race and finds himself at the top of the betting at a general price of around 4/7. He was last seen when winning the Ascot Gold Cup for the third time in what was his most impressive performance, dismantling the field and winning by many lengths.
The clear second favourite in this year’s race is Aidan O’Brien’s Santiago, who can be found trading as short as 2/1 in places. Winner of both of his starts this season, the first of these coming in the Group 2 Queens Vase at Royal Ascot then following up in the Irish Derby. This three-year-old colt by Authorized looks another potential star for a stable who churn out stars on a regular basis. Ryan Moore is in the saddle.
Nayef Road takes his place in the line-up here for Mark Johnston and Andrea Atzeni, he won the Gordon Stakes here last year and was a distant second behind Stradivarius the last day at Ascot. He’s around the 20/1 mark in the betting however Atzeni did win this race on Stradivarius back in 2017 and 2018. Spanish Mission (25/1) and Eagles By Day (33/1) are both unexposed as stayers, however, the former did finish a decent third over two miles last time out in a Sandown Group 3. Who Dares Wins is a smart dual-purpose performer and was last seen winning the Queen Alexandra at Royal Ascot, he is however significantly up in grade here. Jim Goldie’s Euchen Glen is the outsider of the field at 150/1.
Race Verdict
I think it will be a fourth win in the race for STRADIVARIUS however I think it’s far from a penalty kick for him. He’s got to give a very sizeable amount of weight away to his much younger rival in Santiago, who looks a very smart prospect. Stradivarius actually won this race as a three-year-old in similar circumstances when getting a lot of weight off the then odds on favourite Big Orange, who was also an Ascot Gold Cup winner. That all being said, Stradivarius is a better horse than Big Orange and whilst I think this will be one of his tougher assignments, his class and vast experience of these races might well see him through.
Everything Racing 