Goodwood Friday - Rain Affected So Anything Can Happen

ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN

Just a little something extra for Glorious Goodwood this week – it’s a tough old meeting and always has been, though if the ground is as bad as I expect please minimise any bets.

Friday

Goodwood 1.55pm

One look at the form and you can soon see why Opera Ballo is favourite for the 1.55pm at Goodwood with his only loss to Field Of Gold in the Craven Stakes at Newmarket where he was beaten over seven lengths by the Gosden star. He will be a tough nut to crack, but look deeper and he may be worth opposing with Cosmic Year. Harry Charlton’s colt won at Kempton and Newmarket before a second in the Irish 2000 Guineas where he was beaten by (you guessed it) Field Of Gold – but by less than four lengths. Taking that form too literally could be our undoing, but the fact is he has three lengths or more in hand in theory, and although disappointing in the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville where the soft ground may not have suited him ideally, he drops into Group Three company and looks the better value call.

Goodwood 3.05pm

I will make no bones about it – I have never been a lover of Goodwood, too many shock results and not a patch on Royal Ascot even if it is nearer to home for me, but if I can find a big priced winner of the 3.05pm, all will be forgiven. Using the handicapper’s figures isn’t always the best way forward, but the fact is Charlie Hills’ Khaadem is rated 116 ahead of the King Geoge Qatar Stakes over five furlongs, the highest of any of the runners, and second best in to Big Mojo, who gets three pounds because of his age. Readily available at 20/1 as I write, it will be a big ask to win this as a nine-year-old but it seems safe to suggest he will have needed the run at Newbury where he was easy to back at 18/1 before finishing sixth over a furlong further. He has a two out of two record here at Goodwood, one when winning this race in 2022 and one over six furlongs, and if he can give his best he could surprise them all one last time.

Goodwood 4.55pm

Munsif was highly touted to me before the son of Sea The Stars ever saw a racecourse, and he duly obliged on his first two starts impressively at Nottingham and then Pontefract before pulling too hard before finishing third at York on his handicap debut. Gelded since to help him concentrate on the job in hand, he has been left on the same mark despite being beaten less than a length at the line, and some inside the Roger Varian stable still feel he is a Group horse hiding in a handicap. If that is correct then he may well get back to winning ways this afternoon stepping up to a mile and three furlongs and in a big field where I am hoping Jim Crowley can find him some cover early on so he doesn’t overuse himself until asked to by his jockey.