Glorious Goodwood - Day 1

Chesterfield Cup Handicap -

ANCIENT ROME E/W + TAKE HEART E/W

There are 18 runners in this years renewal and it's as competitive as usual, there are some unexposed types such as Godolphin's JOLLY JACK TAR, DEFIANCE and CASTLE COVE who could, and will most likely, be better than their current mark. There's even a veteran 9 year old in the race in the form of SIR BUSKER who has won off a lower mark and may be competitive again. However, it may be worth siding with those that not only have form at this course but have form in this exact race in previous years.

ANCIENT ROME - Has won this race before in 2023 on a mark of 105 and comes back to this race this year with a mark of 100, that means he's 5lb lower than when he proved he has what it takes to win this race! ANCIENT ROME ran a good penultimate race on this mark and was only beaten by less than a length. I believe that this would have been the target and his mark has worked it way down to where this is not a massive ask for him to get involved here, current odds of 14/1 means e/w with the additional places that are being offered makes this a very appealing play.

TAKE HEART - Won this last year on a mark of 95 and is right back on the same mark this year. He was 7/1 last year with a decent field to compete in, this year is probably slightly more competitive and more of a deep group with improvement expected from most of them. However, currently 16/1 to win this and quite unexposed for a 5 year old, TAKE HEART can go back to back in this race. Runs for a new trainer here in the form of David Menuisier who joined him on the 3rd June and all preparation would've been for this race and so should go well.

Vintage Stakes - DORSET

None of the trainers involved in this race have a great form in the vintage stakes and so trainer form here becomes less of an important factor for this race. Pacific Avenue was originally in this race and did look appealing, however, he did not make the final declarations and so this is the final field we have, however, it is still a mighty strong one. In this field there is those that came 4th in Coventry Stakes, Winner of July Stakes, Winner of Chesham Stakes and an exciting prospect from a strong stable.

No doubt this will be a competitive race and is hard to give a strong claim for anyone, however, it may be worth taking a chance siding with DORSET. This is because there's been a lot of talent in Aiden O'Brien's Wootton Bassett 2 yr old's and DORSET won very nicely over 7f on his last start and also gad an eye catching debut. The form of both those races have been good and Aiden describes DORSET as a good mover and uncomplicated, could also get further next year and they are excited about him. Looks a tough enough race but comes here in great form and could be one with a bright future.

Goodwood Cup - ILLINOIS

Perhaps the most talked about race of day 1 of the festival, the Goodwood cup had a strong favourite in the form of ILLINOIS for a while until recent days when a huge amount of support has been shown for SCANDINAVIA who was very impressive winning a group 3 last time out by over 8 lengths showing he's a true stayer. SCANDINAVIA has had a lot of support both because of its unexposed and exciting future he may have and is currently second fav for the St leger but a big reason people think he can turn over ILLINOIS is that he gets 1 stone less to carry round than all other competitors as he is just a 3 yr old. However, ILLINOIS is the choice of Ryan Moore and could be the stable's new Gold Cup horse. He's proved he's got the stamina with never being out of the top 2 in races over 1m4f, he came 2n last time out in the gold cup, he was no match for TRAWLERMAN, but that isn't all bad as TRAWLERMAN was Kyprios main rival at Ascot.

ILLINOIS was far clear of the rest and shaped like he enjoyed the trip and deserves to be the favourite for this race. Some may ask that if connections are so sure in ILLINOIS then why run SCANDINAVIA? Well, I believe that they are running SCANDINAVIA not because they doubt ILLINOIS but because they can gauge just how good SCANDINAVIA is. If he cannot keep up and fails to make any sort of impact the they know that the form isn't as good as they thought and they can re-organize his prep and find races that better suit him.

If SCANDINAVIA does run well and get a good top 3 or even wins then they know he's a proper horse and a group 1 horse all over and would be suited to a leger and other long distance races. I hope SCANDINAVIA runs well but even with the stone in hand, he'll have to run a mighty race to pass ILLINOIS who has wicked form and has proved over and over how tough of a horse he is.