29th July 2015
Three runners at The Qatar Goodwood Festival on Thursday.
Quest for More runs in the Goodwood Cup at 3.10pm. He has been a star this year. The improvement has been remarkable. He started on a mark of 90 at Newmarket over a trip that was too short for him he ran a wonderful race finishing second to Astronereus that day, who has himself, gone from 93 to 107 after winning at Newmarket and York. In 3rd that day was Arab Dawn, who went on to win at Royal Ascot.
Next time out Quest for More did well to win at Goodwood off a mark of 96, beating the well thought of Oasis Fantasy, who has run well all year. He handled the track well, which is a positive for his run tomorrow. His greatest performance of the year came in the Northumberland Plate, where he cruised in to the race, before idling in front. That was off 104. Behind him that day were a host of good horses with Notarised, Angel Gabriel, Suegioo and Seamour all who have upholded the form since. So now we have to step in to the big time. There are 3 or 4 rated above him officially, but not all of them are in as good nick as he is, and one has a penalty. As his run over 1m4f showed, he has a lot of speed for a stayer, and I just hope he can keep improving at the rate he has been, which could give him a chance. Many of the horses in the race are either stepping back in trip, or up in trip, and I expect they will go a good pace.
Scooner runs in a very competitive looking handicap at 2.05pm. There are stacks of horses in there who are in great nick, and who have been running well all year. He didn’t run his best race last time, but it rained all morning, he missed the kick, and he was dropping back in trip. Once he missed the break, he was always struggling. The trip is more suitable, and we know he handles the ground and the track, but it would have be a career best effort to land the prize. There are certain to be a few hard luck stories in a race like this.
Judicial runs in the 5.30pm. He was unbeaten in three starts last year, and managed to win two maidens, due to the misfortune of Strath Burn who was disqualified for failing a drugs test. Judicial has had a few niggly problems this spring but is now back in good shape. He has filled out, and is fine looking horse. He has bags of speed, and being drawn next to the stands rail, he may be able to use this to get a good position on the rail. He may just need the race after such a long lay off, and I hope he can show up well.