GLORIOUS GOODWOOD: Race to be top trainer and jockey hots up
Doubles for two formidable jockey/trainer partnerships mean Tom Queally and Sir Henry Cecil won’t have it all their own way in the race to be the top operators across the five days of the festival.
You can never keep Richard Hughes and Richard Hannon too far from the winner’s enclosure at Goodwood and sure enough they stormed into contention with two come-from-nowhere wins before and after Frankel had taken centre stage.
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Hide AdFirst, on the day GB won their first gold medal in their home Olympics, Olympic Glory fittingly produced an astonishing late run to give Hannon his third successive triumph in the Veuve Clicquot Vintage Stakes, with Hughes on board.
The champion trainer saddled King Torus and Chandlery to win the last two runnings and Olympic Glory (11-4) made it a treble, following up Goodwood and Newmarket wins earlier in the season.
Hughes was last with a couple of furlongs to run but timed his run to perfection, getting up by half a length to beat Artigiano.
Hughes said: “The horse got me out of trouble, he just wasn’t turning around the bend, he was hanging badly left and I didn’t think he was going to turn.
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Hide Ad“They got racing really early so I let him find his feet and he actually started running straight with me rather than trying to hold him in and then he took off.”
Later Hannon and Hughes paired up again for victory in the British Stallion Studs Turf Club EBF Fillies Stakes with 16/1 shot My Queenie - but only after another late charge for the line to beat Strathnaver.
It made it a satisfying day for Hughes and Hannon, so often the men to beat at Glorious and in fact all year long at Goodwood - that after they drew a blank on day one.
But they weren’t the only ones to score a double - Mark Johnston has a superb record down the years at the festival and teamed up with jockey Joe Fanning for two successes.
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Hide AdHurricane Higgins held off the late thrust of Irish raider Defence Of Duress to take the Goodwood Stakes, giving Johnston successes in the openers on each of the first two days of the festival.
The race was overshadowed by a nasty fall by Ryan Moore from Romeo Montague. He was taken to hospital for a check on soft tissue damage but was released and headed back to Goodwood for some physiotherapy.
Later Fanning enjoyed a second success as Sir Graham Wade (14-1) comfortably took the UBS Stakes. After staying with the pack for much of the race, he quickened up to take a clear lead and finished strongly to hold off Mawaqeet by a length and three-quarters.
Both Hannon and Johnston go into Thursday’s card one win behind Cecil, while Hughes and Fanning are each a victory behind Queally.
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Hide AdMarket leader Pearl Sea (11/8), trained by David Brown, won the Markel Insurance Maiden Fillies’ Stakes, ridden by Jamie Spencer, while the last, the Harwoods Racing Club Handicap Stakes, was taken by Cathy Gannon on Henry Candy-trained The Confessor after the favourite Dubawi Sound (Harry Bentley) was overtaken by half a dozen despite holding the lead for a long time.
Day three at Goodwood features the Artemis Goodwood Cup, which is marking its 200th anniversary. Live coverage again at www.chichester.co.uk