Wednesday 28th July 2021

Glorious Goodwood Day 2

Author: Jordan Yates

Welcome to my preview for the second day of this year’s Glorious Goodwood Festival, where once again I’ll be kicking things off with the 1:50 which is another Class 2 Handicap. Contested over a distance of a mile and four furlongs the race is another extremely competitive affair of which I’ll be taking a chance with two darts. The first of these comes in the form Nagano for the Roger Varian yard, set to be ridden by David Egan here, he was very unlucky at Royal Ascot the last day and probably would’ve gone close had it not been for interference. He impressed me at Nottingham on his second outing when winning and followed that up with another success at Newcastle, I think there could be more to come from him here. The other I quite like here is Kolisi for William Haggas and Tom Marquand, he arrives here very much on the up having won impressively last time at Salisbury after being beaten a neck at Nottingham the time before. He’s up in distance here but he didn’t look to be stopping last time.

The first group race of the day takes place at 2:25 and that’s the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes over seven furlongs. You’d think you were looking at a handicap with how competitive the race is, pretty much 11/2 the field. A case could be made for all of these, and I wouldn’t be surprised with whatever the result. I’ve taken my chance on the John Quinn trained Highfield Princess though who’s the mount of Jason Hart. She won a big handicap at Royal Ascot on her penultimate outing when beating Danyah who has since franked the form, she’s since gone on to win again at Listed level at Chelmsford and she looks a lot more progressive than a lot of these. If getting some luck in the run I’m chancing her to continue said progression in what looks a mind boggling affair.

It’s more Group 3 action at 3:00 with the Molecamb Stakes taking centre stage over five furlongs. Fearby is the well backed short priced favourite here, and rightly so on the back of his demolition job in the Dragon Stakes at Sandown. If turning up in that sort of form again he’ll be incredibly hard to beat. He is a bit on the short side though for a race of this nature and therefore I’ve tried to take him on with a couple at decent each-way prices. The first is the Kevin Ryan trained Boonie who’s the mount of Kevin Stott, last seen finishing third at Royal Ascot in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes he’s been put away for a stab at this and I think there could well be more progression to come. My other fancy here is Kaboo for the Karl Burke team, who’s set to be ridden Clifford Lee. He was last seen finishing third behind the favourite at Sandown before a fine effort in sixth at Royal Ascot on what was an extremely tough debut. Connections think highly of him, and he’s currently a big price here.

The feature of the day once again comes at 3:35 and this time it’s the Group 1 Sussex Stakes over a mile. This race has had an illustrious back catalogue of winners in the past and I think another top notcher will join that list here in Poetic Flare for Jim Bolger and Kevin Manning. The Irish raider couldn’t have looked more impressive when winning the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, adding to his Guineas success the season and I think he’ll cement himself as one of the best horses of recent times here. The Dawn Approach colt shouldn’t have too many issues on the easy going as he has form with soft in the description, having won on it on his debut and having finished a very close second on a soft surface in this year’s Irish Guineas. If I can get an each-way price about Snow Lantern I’ll probably punt her too, she’s one of my favourite horses in training and was very impressive herself when winning the Falmouth last time.