After a few days of letting the dust settle following Glorious Goodwood, Sam King has a trio of horses for your tracker from the Sussex venue, including a two-year-old who looks destined for Group 1 company.
Tuesday 1st August – Goodwood 3.25 – Iberian
Charlie Hills' colt made a nice impression when winning on debut at Newbury in June and connections clearly see him as a horse of some regard having taken to jump up to the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood on his second outing. He only found the further forward-positioned and more experienced Haatem, who previously chased home potential superstar City Of Troy at Newmarket, too strong on that occasion and it was a huge effort on just his second run.
Iberian was slowly away under William Buick and slotted in towards the rear of the field, which was probably something that was forced due to being drawn out in stall nine. He still found himself with plenty of ground to make up with a furlong to run but kept on well to grab second after producing the quickest final furlong of the nine-strong field.
Although by a sire whose progeny tend to do well on soft ground, the return to a sounder surface should suit this good-moving son of Lope De Vega with trainer Charlie Hills stating: "That softer surface probably blunted the speed out of him. He had them covered but when William asked, he just floundered a little bit on the going."
He was given an official rating of 102 following that second-place effort, but I suspect there is bundles more to come from this talented colt and connections will have a step up to Group 1 company in their mind towards the back end of his juvenile campaign.
Thursday 3rd August – Goodwood 3.00 – Canberra Legend
The Group 3 John Pearce Racing Gordon Stakes looked like a really interesting contest heading into it and there's certainly plenty to take out of it following some assessment.
Royal Ascot handicap winner Desert Hero looks well worth a crack at the St Leger next month following his cosy success and it's hard to say much wrong about this progressive colt. That said, it's Canberra Legend that caught my eye back in third and he went straight into the tracker with the comment "step up in trip" attached.
James Ferguson's charge had his path blocked when coming with an effort two furlongs out and he simply did not have the speed to get himself seriously back into contention as the race developed. At one stage, it looked as though he would finish well beaten, but the lightly-raced three-year-old stuck on well once headed and was only three and a quarter lengths behind the winner at the line.
A step up in trip could prove fruitful for the son of Australia and I'd expect him to have a strong career ahead once tackling a stiffer stamina test.
Thursday 3rd August – Goodwood 3.45 – Man Of Eden
There was plenty to unravel in a messy Class 3 mile handicap at Goodwood on Thursday afternoon.
The performance of Novus's success was certainly eye-catching in itself and you'd be hard-pressed to say he didn't deserve victory having suffered a torrid passage through. It's easy to upgrade his performance, but he wasn't the only horse to suffer considerable interference up the straight and Man Of Eden will be well worth looking at closely next-time-out.
Much like Novus, Harry and Roger Charlton's runner found himself sat up against the inside rail towards the middle of the pack and in my mind jockey Harry Davies undoubtedly did the right thing in tracking Gary Moore's eventual winner.
Davies couldn't have foreseen what was about to occur and the pair were locked away going nicely behind an absolute wall of horses. It all got very messy from there on after and you could easily argue Man Of Eden came off worst given he was the meat in not one but two sandwiches before finding any daylight.
The gap did eventually come, and he finished off his race in nice style to take third behind the impressive Novus. The winner is clearly well-handicapped and it's interesting the handicapper has only raised Man Of Eden 1lb for that third-place finish.
One mile with some cut in the ground appears to suit and I'd expect him to go close next time with similar conditions.
