The Qatar Goodwood Festival gets underway today with the highlight being the £500 000 Gr1 Qatar Goodwood Cup run over two miles.
John Gosden saddles Stradivarius
The field of seven is headed by Stradivarius (John Gosden/Andrea Atzeni), winner of the race last year and successful last time out in the Gr1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, when he had the re-opposing Torcedor (Jessica Harrington IRE/Colm O’Donoghue) back in third.
Owned and bred by Bjorn Nielsen, Stradivarius is chasing the WH Stayers’ Million, a bonus of £1-million offered by Weatherbys Hamilton which goes to the horse who wins one of four prep races in May followed by the Gr1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, the Gr1 Qatar Goodwood Cup and the Gr2 Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup Stakes at York on August 24.
Stradivarius won a prep race, the 14-furlong Gr2 Yorkshire Cup at York in May, before taking a thrilling renewal of the Gr1 Gold Cup at the Royal Meeting in June.
Queen Elizabeth
The Queen has succeeded as an owner in the Qatar Goodwood Cup twice before, courtesy of the back-to-back winners Apprentice (1965) and Gaulois (1966). There is a Royal runner in today’s contest with Call To Mind (William Haggas/James Doyle), who has winning form at Goodwood having captured the Listed March Stakes in August, 2017.
The four-year-old Galileo colt finished third to Stradivarius at York and landed the biggest win of his career last time out when succeeding in the G2 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational Stakes over two miles at Belmont Park, USA, on June 8.
The Qatar Goodwood Cup forms part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.
Today’s seven-race card also includes the £312,000 G2 Qatar Lennox Stakes. The previous two latest winners of the contest – Breton Rock (David Simcock/Martin Harley, the 2017 winner) and Dutch Connection (Charlie Hills/James Doyle, the 2016 winner) – are set to line up again.
The QIPCO 2000 Guineas runner-up Tip Two Win (Roger Teal/David Probert) represents the best of the three-year-olds, while last year’s Gr1 Qatar Sussex Stakes hero Here Comes When (Andrew Balding/Jim Crowley) also goes to post.
See the Racing Post racecard here
Today’s top two-year-old race is the £200,000 Gr2 Qatar Vintage Stakes The market for the seven-furlong contest is headed by Confiding (Martyn Meade/Callum Shepherd), a hugely-impressive winner on debut at Newbury on June 14.
