Equinties - Glorious awards

Gm Equinauts

A delayed newsletter this morning as one of the greatest series in Test cricket history concluded.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

GOODWOOD AWARDS

Glorious Goodwood is never one for the faint hearted. Whether you were on track dealing with Thursday’s monsoon, or you were just punting and trying to guess the conditions from the comfort of home, it was a long old week.

Even though we all love racing, there were a few begging their non-existent corner to throw in the towel.

Anyway, as is with any big festival, we have our Newsletter Awards to hands out. Let’s dive in.

FAVOURITE PERFORMANCES

LADY IMAN – GROUP 3 MOLECOMB STAKES (WEDNESDAY)

As always, these aren’t necessarily the best performances of the week, but these are ultimately the wins we enjoyed the most but concerning LADY IMAN, she arguably fits into both categories, as she was very good in the Molecomb.

The race probably wasn’t vintage, but the drop back to five furlongs saw her at her best, and Ger Lyons doesn’t bring them over unless they have a great chance of winning. In this case, she didn’t just have a chance, she was pretty close to a certainty.
She could well show up in the Nunthorpe at York, and if she does, she’d get a two-year-old and fillies allowance. That’s 27lbs! It will take a pretty good one to beat her if she goes, but ultimately, her big target is the Breeders’ Cup. Roll on.

AL AASY – GROUP 3 GLORIOUS STAKES (SATURDAY)

What a boy. AL AASY is truly in his golden years right now, and he’s showing no signs of letting up.

We knew he was different gear ahead of the race hence we put him up as NAP but even we didn’t think he’d put in the remarkable performance he did. Such a facile success for him to land back to back Glorious Stakes, topping off a great season which opened up with a demolition job in the Gordon Richards Stakes.

At 8 years old it shows what these flat horses can do when kept in training to jsut improve and improve. The oldest ever Group 1 winners are YAVANA’S PACE and ALCAZAR, both recording top-level success at the age of ten.

While we don’t truly know if he’ll go on for this long, why not give him a chance in a Group 1 race this season? The Irish St Leger is open to horses of all ages, and last year’s winner, KYPRIOS, is no longer racing. The Irish Leger could suit him down to the ground, and what’s the harm in trying?

Shaggas either rolls the dice, or just keeps on doing what he’s doing which is placing him cleverly in races he’s simply a show in for.

WAARDAH – GROUP 2 LILLIE LANGTRY STAKES (SATURDAY)

We really liked what WAARDAH did in the Lillie Langtry, so much so that we can see her being a real force in the Group 1 British Champions Fillies & Mares’ Stakes later this season.

For her first start at 1m6f (four furlongs further than her win at Goodwood in June), she travelled very well into the race. In fairness, she was always going to do that, but the way she battled against DANIELLE showed she is not all about speed. Owen Burrows name-checked the Fillies & Mares Stakes in his post-race interview, and coming back two furlongs shouldn’t be an issue. Nice horse.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE WEEK: FIELD OF GOLD

This is the obvious one. What do you do now with FIELD OF GOLD?

One day after the Sussex Stakes, we were told that FIELD OF GOLD was found to be lame on his nearside hind leg, and that is an obvious excuse to use, clearly.

He never seemed to be travelling, and when William Buick asked him to go, he didn’t respond like the horse we have grown to love this season. The excuse looks pretty bang on.

But, how should he be played for the rest of the season? It obviously depends on where they go next, because could they really pitch him into the Juddmonte International after an injury/setback? We think they won’t, and even if they did, it would be hard to back him with any sort of confidence.

He holds an entry for the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes, and that could well be more his cup of tea. It’s a full 24 days after the Juddmonte, and it leaves a full 35 days to get prepped for the British Champions Stakes, if that is the subsequent plan. This mere speculative plan would seem more feasible to us.

Still, whichever race he goes to, he will ultimately be a horse returning from an injury that was enough to see him not perform to his best ability. That would knock the confidence of any punter wishing to back him later this season, and let’s not forget that he has now had five races this season. He could just need a bit more of a break.

TRAINER OF THE WEEK: RALPH BECKETT

What a week for Ralphie. The yard had been under a small cloud in the lead up to Goodwood, so what’s the best way to put the critics to one side? Smash in a 150/1 winner in the big race of the week, and have a dead-heat with two of your horses in the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes.

Game, set, and the festival, Mr. Beckett.

The trainer secured four winners at Goodwood last week, and he had three more elsewhere. Lovely stuff.
What clearly makes him trainer of the week in our eyes is just how open he has been in the media about a few hot topics.

Cutting a long story short, he basically admitted that QIRAT’s supplementation for the Sussex was for no other purpose than to benefit FIELD OF GOLD, which arguably muddies the waters of running a horse on its merits, and he caused such a stir on ITV Racing regarding Amo racing that Kia Joorabchian lost his head on Racing X.

Unfortunately, Joorabchian (we assume he was the one on the Twitter account last week) has deleted his tweets, but he basically said Matt Chapman was manipulating the narrative and didn’t do any homework.

Amo Racing beef and ex-Betfair tipster Daryl Carter losing his head in the same week? What a time to be on Racing X!

RIDE OF THE WEEK: HOLLIE DOYLE

Hollie Doyle and the whole Alan King team had a crushing moment on Tuesday with the sad loss of TRUESHAN. He was a dream horse to own, and some of his battles with STRADIVARIUS and COLTRANE will live long in the memory for many of us.

Furthermore, in Doyle's eyes, the timing of this tragic event highlights just how crushing this sport can be at times. That’s because 35 minutes prior, Doyle had produced a very nice ride on WITNESS STAND to win the Group 2 Lennox Stakes.

We all knew AUDIENCE was going to try and make it a test, but QUINAULT also put himself at the front of the field, so the pace from these two front-runners was strong.
Therefore, it would have been easy for her to sit in the main pack alongside the likes of LAKE FORREST and ALYANAABI and wait for her time to go.

However, having probably recognised that pace-setters had been having a nice time of things at Goodwood all week, she put WITNESS STAND on the hindquarters of QUINAULT and AUDIENCE, and this was an inspired move.

While AUDIENCE and QUINAULT faded, WITNESS STAND went again to build up an unassailable advantage. On another day, maybe the fast-finishing LAKE FOREST would have got there, but with the way Doyle rode her mount, he never did.
It was a great ride, and one that reminded us of Doyle’s talent in the saddle.

EYE-CATCHERS

KURAKKA – TUESDAY 13:20 GOODWOOD

OMNI MAN looked like a hugely unexposed horse in the 1m4f handicap on day one, and KURAKKA shaped nicely in third.

He was well-backed before the off, which is always a good sign, and he stayed on well down the outside alongside MDAWI. He’s only had six runs, two of which were winning ones, and he can continue to improve from here, even when the handicapper reassesses him on Tuesday. Keep an eye on him in handicaps going forward.

GHOST MODE – SATURDAY 16:20 GOODWOOD

One of our big eye-catchers of the whole week came in the seven-furlong maiden on Saturday, and we think this race could turn out into a really nice one.
Andrew Balding always sends a nice one to this – THE FOXES won this in 2022, and IMPERIAL FIGHTER (Irish Guineas third in 2022) was successful the year prior – and this year, his GHOST MODE caught the eye.

Firstly, let's look at the race. ISAAC NEWTON is a €380,000 CAMELOT out of the Listed-placed ETIVE, and the second, EVANESCO, is a TOO DARN HOT from the same family as GOLDEN LILAC (three-time Group 1 winner) and GREY LION (Group 3 winner).

As for GHOST MODE, he picked it up from the front way too early (and had to given the draw), but he stuck to the task well, even when the first two passed him late on both sides. We thought he nicked the race at one point.

He will be a nice horse to follow, especially next year with a nice winter break.

STATS OF THE DAY

RISK ON

We think we have two bets today but only sure on one at the moment and will post the other later should it be a bet.

16.46 JEL PEPPER

The yard were upset this lad didn’t go to the Richmond but had no choice. Should be the best horse today, a rare Irish bet.