Glorious Goodwood

It was the first day of ‘Glorious’ Goodwood and, while there were undoubtedly some highly quality horses on parade, I must admit the action didn’t particularly excite me. In fact, I don’t think there are enough good races to make it last five days. One performance which did catch my eye though was the run of Luca Cumani trained Haggle in the concluding fillies’ handicap. The well bred daughter of Pivotal suffered an injury during the winter and was making her belated reappearance. A winner last year, she had run well in defeat behind Fireglow in a Listed contest at Newmarket last backend. Only beaten a length, she can win a similar event before long and is one to watch out for.

I interviewed Alan King and Harry Whittington for One Jump Ahead yesterday. The former won the Paddy Power and Hennessy Gold Cups last season and is understandably looking forward to the likes of Yanworth this winter, while the latter sent out a career best 21 winners at a strike-rate of 23%. The Oxfordshire based handler has strengthened his string further during the summer. It is the first time I have interviewed Harry and found him excellent – very enthusiastic, he certainly knows what he is talking about.

It was good to see September Stars (9/4) finally get off the mark at Windsor last night. Featured in Ahead On The Flat, Ralph Beckett’s filly had run well in maiden company at Wolverhampton last time but made the most of a lenient looking mark of 80 at the Thames track. Effective on any ground, she is hopefully set for a productive second half of the season.