Once described by King Edward VII as ‘a garden party with racing,’ this world-famous five-day festival – affectionately known as ‘Glorious Goodwood’ – is one of the highlights of the flat racing season.
Over 100,000 people flock to the world’s most beautiful racecourse to enjoy top class racing and entertainment, including the £1-million Qatar Sussex Stakes, the cavalry charge that is the Qatar Steward’s Cup and the marathon Qatar Goodwood Cup.
The 2019 event takes place from today to Saturday 3 August and Qatar continues its generous support of the week, with prize money totalling over £5.5 million.
Neil Morrice writes on the www.Hollywoodbets.co.za blog that upgraded to Group 1 status and moved to the first day, the Goodwood Cup sees STRADIVARIUS trying to win the race for the third year in succession for John Gosden and Frankie Dettori, and cementing his position as the top stayer in Europe.
Stradivarius – a big runner today
His unblemished record goes back a long way and in landing the Yorkshire Cup and the Gold Cup in as many starts this season the 5yo has looked better than ever.
On soft ground at Royal Ascot he kept finding enough to readily hold DEE EX BEE by a length with the patiently ridden CROSS COUNTER a further three quarters of a length adrift in fourth, and on that evidence it’s hard to make a case for the placings to be reversed here.
Gosden is delighted with him and Dettori can’t stop riding Group 1 winners, but the fact that today’s race is over a much shorter trip could make his foes more potent threats this time.
