GLORIOUS GOODWOOD TUESDAY FEVER
Goodwood as glorious as ever with Stradivarius bidding to play a familiar tune
In a nutshell
Five days of top-quality racing set against one of the most magnificent backdrops in racing begin on Tuesday.
The branding says it is the Qatar Goodwood Festival, but to racing fans it will always be Glorious Goodwood.
A long week starts with a long race, as the Group 1 Qatar Goodwood Cup takes centre stage with Stradivarius, conqueror of Big Orange 12 months ago, attempting to match his old rival by becoming a dual winner of the prestigious staying event.
He also bids to complete a double not achieved since Yeats in 2008 by winning the Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup in the same season.
It is far from a one-race card with strong support from shoulder events like the Group 2 prizes, the Vintage and Lennox Stakes.
Former winners include Galileo Gold, Highland Reel, Toormore and Olympic Glory while last year Expert Eye, due to run in Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes, produced one of the most explosive performances of the week with a stunning win in the Vintage Stakes.
The 7f Lennox Stakes offers plucky underdog Tip Two Win, the surprise 2,000 Guineas runner-up from the stable of Roger Teal, a chance to bag the Group victory his placed performances have merited.
Don’t forget Galway, already a day old, and a longer marathon than Goodwood week. There is another seven-race card, of two jumps and five Flat events, which gets under way five minutes after Goodwood ends.
There are four other meetings at Yarmouth, Beverley, Worcester and Perth. It’s no average Tuesday.
The secret’s out
There can have been few novice races working out as well as the one contested at Newbury in June won by the Martyn Meade-trained Confiding.
Six of the seven who finished immediately behind the colt won next time out and two others finished second, so there are solid foundations underpinning Confiding’s pitching straight into the Group 2 Qatar Vintage Stakes on his own second start.
He will be one of the most important rides so far in the career of 20-year-old Callum Shepherd, who joined the professional ranks only in the spring after riding out his claim.
“I’ve ridden in a Group 2, but not on one with a realistic chance, so this is a big day,” said Shepherd. ”I’m really looking forward to riding Confiding. It’s really good that the Meades have backed me and were happy for me to keep the ride on this big stage, which is fantastic.
“Confiding is a really exciting horse and hopefully he can build on what was a very good debut.”
Moore still the man
Ryan Moore is favourite to win his third top jockey award in a row at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, despite some lingering concerns over the form of Aidan O’Brien’s string.
O’Brien’s number-one rider is evens with Coral to scoop the award, having partnered five winners at the meeting last year.
Moore does not have an obvious banker this year, with Sir Michael Stoute’s Mirage Dancer in the Glorious Stakes the shortest-priced Group-race ride he is booked for.
James Doyle, fresh from his King George triumph on Poet’s Word, is next in the market at 7-2.
Doyle can look forward to partnering Dutch Connection in the Lennox Stakes, Queen Of Bermuda in the Molecomb and his big ride on supplemented Sussex Stakes contender Expert Eye.
Andrea Atzeni is the 4-1 with bet365, but as short as 11-4 elsewhere. He has been the main benefactor of Frankie Dettori’s six-day ban and will partner St James’ Palace Stakes winner Without Parole for the first time in Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes and be reunited with Stradivarius in Tuesday’s Goodwood Cup, having won the Group 1 on the Sea The Stars colt last year.
Mark Johnston is well known for targeting Glorious Goodwood and he shares favouritism in the top trainer market at 7-4 with John Gosden, who has a particularly strong hand in the first two Group 1s of the meeting.
With concerns about the wellbeing of some of his string after the high-profile disappointments of Magic Wand and Goddess, Aidan O’Brien is perhaps not as short as he might usually be in the market at 5-1 with bet365.
New name above the door
Seamus Buckley hung up his panama after 23 years last year, passing responsibility for the track’s husbandry to Ed Arkell, who takes overall charge of his first Glorious Goodwood.
Arkell joined full-time from Arena Racing Company in 2017 but had spent ten years shadowing Buckley at Goodwood.
“I’m very much looking forward to it,” said Arkell. “It seems to have taken a long time to come round. It’s been a challenging lead-up.
“I’ve helped Seamus for the last ten years and it’s nice now to be the one with the name on the door.”
Stay on right side of Pettochside
Goodwood regular Pettochside contests the Chelsea Barracks Handicap (4.45), in which a victory would earn him the penalty that would guarantee him a start in the Unibet Stewards’ Cup field.
The nine-year-old has run 15 times at the track, winning five, finishing second in four and being third twice, and since turning nine this year has found the form of his life.
Under trainer John Bridger he has risen from a handicap rating of 67 to 95 and is 11lb higher than when finishing sixth in Tuesday’s race and 11th in the Stewards’ Cup consolation last year.
Will a star be born at Ballybrit?
Galway has become increasingly synonymous with a better class of horse and Tuesday’s card is a case in point.
Two years ago, having come via James Bethell, Luca Cumani, Tramore and Killarney, Penhill landed the opening novices’ hurdle. He went on to win at the Cheltenham Festival for a second time when landing the Stayers’ Hurdle last March and, in Exchange Rate and Pakora, Willie Mullins this time relies on two contenders with similarly modest but progressive profiles.
Likewise, in 2014 the 7f fillies’ maiden (6.25) gave us Classic heroine and triple Group 1-winning Legatissimo, while subsequent two-time Group 1 winner Hydrangea was denied by Eziyra in 2016.
Hydrangea’s full-sister Hermosa is one of two Aidan O’Brien-trained runners now, the other being Enticed, a sister to the Irish Derby and St Leger victor Capri.
Read exclusive previews from 6pm daily on racingpost.com
Show all racecards for this meeting on one page
fonte : RacingPost
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The 15th Dubai World Cup Carnival will be one of historic proportions in 2019, with record purses during the course of its 10 meetings at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Prize money will be boosted 12%, totalling US $12,670,000, and the Dubai World Carnival will take place on Thursdays from January 3 through February 28 for its first nine meetings. Its 10th and final will be Super Saturday, March 9.
The three rounds of the Al Maktoum Challenge have received purse increases as they pave a lucrative local path to the recently boosted $12 million Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline (Group 1, 2000m, March 30). Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 (Group 2, 1600m, January 10) is now worth $350,000; an increase of $100,000. Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (Group 2, 1900m, February 7) is now worth $450,000; an increase of $200,000. Lastly, Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (Group 1, 2000m, Super Saturday) is now worth $600,000; an increase of $200,000. Eight of the previous 19 Dubai World Cup winners have competed in the series, including four of the last seven.
Super Saturday’s remaining fixtures have received boosts as final course and distance preps for their coinciding Dubai World Cup night races, including the Jebel Hatta (Group 1, 1800m turf), which will increase $100,000 to $400,000 as the preliminary for the $6 million Dubai Turf sponsored by DP World (Group 1). Two races receive $50,000 boosts; the Dubai City of Gold (Group 2, 2410m turf) will be worth $300,000 as the dress rehearsal for the $6 million Longines Dubai Sheema Classic (Group 1), while the Al Bastakiya (Listed, 1900m) goes up to $300,000 as the prep for the richest dirt derby in the world, the $2.5 million UAE Derby sponsored by The Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group (Group 2).
Three Super Saturday races increase by $150,000 for total purses of $350,000, respectively. The Mahab Al Shimaal (Group 3, 1200m) will serve as a dry run for the world’s richest dirt sprint, the $2.5 million Dubai Golden Shaheen sponsored by Gulf News (Group 1). The Burj Nahaar (Group 3, 1600m) sets the stage for the globe’s second-richest dirt mile, the $1.5 million Godolphin Mile sponsored by Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City – District One (Group 1). Lastly, the newly upgraded Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint (Group 3, 1200m turf) will once again be the ideal prep, as displayed in 2018 by Godolphin’s Jungle Cat, for the $2 million Al Quoz Sprint sponsored by Azizi Developments (Group 1).
Eight additional stakes receive boosts for 2019, including the Nad Al Sheba Trophy (Group 3, 2810m turf, February 28), which will increase by $100,000 to be worth $300,000 to stayers looking to tackle the $1.5 million Dubai Gold Cup sponsored by Al Tayer Motors (Group 2, 3200m turf) 30 days later.
The Meydan Sprint (Group 2, 1000m turf, February 14) increases $75,000 to $250,000, fortifying a strong turf sprint program.
Fillies and mares will see $50,000 increases in both the Cape Verdi (Group 2, 1600m turf, January 17) and Balanchine (Group 2, 1800m turf, February 14), with each now worth $250,000.
The road to the aforementioned Dubai Turf is enriched by the purse increases of the Singspiel Stakes (Group 3, 1800m turf, January 3), which is up $25,000 to $200,000, and the Al Rashidiya (Group 2, 1800m turf, January 24), which receives a $50,000 boost to $250,000. The Singspiel strengthens a robust January 3 opening day card that also includes the Dubawi Stakes (Group 3, 1200m) for dirt sprinters, which increases $25,000 to $200,000.
The 3-year-old program has been expanded, allowing horses to take turf, dirt, sprint and route roads to the UAE Derby. The Meydan Classic (Listed, 1600m turf, February 28) received a $25,000 purse increase to $175,000 and is supported by the $100,000 Meydan Classic Trial (1400m turf, January 31), as well as two new races: the $100,000 Dubai Trophy (1400m turf, January 10) and $100,000 Meydan Trophy (1900m turf, February 14) for sophomores preferring a little more ground.
On dirt, the longwinded will also get a new race in the $100,000 Al Bastakiya Trial (1900m, January 24), while those wishing to run in both the $250,000 UAE 2000 Guineas (Group 3, 1600m, February 7) and Al Bastakiya will have an additional week between the two.
The $100,000 UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (1600m, January 10) has been increased in trip, while 3-year-old fillies will again have a fluid three-race series that culminates with the $250,000 UAE Oaks (Group 3, 1900m, February 21).
Dubai World Cup Carnival handicaps will receive increases ranging from $10,000 to $15,000, with the minimum total purse being $135,000 and rising as high as $175,000.
Click for Attached 2019 Dubai World Cup Carnival Programme
Click here for image and media assets
Photo: Team Wallop’s Richard Hannon-trained OH THIS IS US (Tom Marquand up) gives his conditioner a first success at the #DWCCarnival (Credit: DRC/Andrew Watkins)
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fonte : Goffs
