Saturday’s card at Goodwood, which gets underway at 1.50 and ends shortly after 5.20, concludes what’s been a glorious (not so much weather wise!) five-day Festival.
It looks a tricky final day, but there’s two in a couple of handicaps either side of the featured Stewards’ Cup that take my fancy.
2.25 – Sweet William @ 2/1
When I tipped John & Thady Gosden’s Sweet William at Newbury the other week, I said I suspected he was “one of the best handicapped horses in training right now”.
That’s aged well so far, as he could hardly have won much easier that day, putting 3L between him and the 94-rated Novel Legend despite racing widest of all throughout.
He’s been raised 7lbs for that, which I think is unlikely to stop him going in again in this 1m6f handicap.
For me, we’re looking at a 100+ horse. He’ll have to be that to win this, to be fair, and he’ll have to win if he’s to make the cut ahead of the Ebor later this month.
It’s hard to predict what conditions we’ll be dealing with on Saturday, for the current forecast is relatively dry until Saturday afternoon when the heavens are expected to open, but given Sweet William is a son of Sea The Stars and half-brother to Hurricane Lane, who was second in a heavy ground Arc, I’m not concerned either way.
4.10 – New Business @ 4/1
Of the eight set to go to post for this 0-105 handicap over 7f, it’s Andrew Balding’s New Business that stands out for me.
The three-year-old son of Sea The Stars kept good company in three novice contests earlier this season before stepping into a handicap for the first time off an opening mark of 87.
That race at Sandown, where he finished 4/8 beaten just over 2L by the 89-rated Classic, has been boosted several times since – most recently by Novus, who won a handicap at Glorious Goodwood on Thursday.
I suspect there’s a lot more to come from New Business, who still races a bit keenly and is still showing some signs of inexperience.
Dropped 1lb and with Ryan Moore booked, I think New Business ought to go extremely close in what looks a weaker contest than that at Sandown.
Share Article
