The 2024 edition of the Qatar Goodwood Festival has been as competitive as ever, presenting a tricky puzzle for punters to solve. However your luck has been this week, Saturday offers one last chance to back a winner or two at the Sussex venue as Glorious Goodwood reaches its fifth and final day. Here, we pick out our best bets in three of the final seven contests as we look to end the meeting on a high.
1:50 Coral Glorious Stakes, 1m4f Group 3
Only five go to post in the opener, but this still looks fiendishly competitive, with all five runners priced between 7/2 and 9/2.
Roger Varian’s Aimeric heads the betting in most lists, having finally found a seam of consistency. Winning first time out at Lingfield, he has since twice finished second to King Of Conquest, who had previously come up short in Group 3 company.
With four Group 3 wins to his name, Al Aasy is thoroughly proven in this grade but is seven years old now and could manage only second on his seasonal return in the Listed Steventon Stakes. That was a solid effort, but the one to be on is the horse who beat him that day, Phantom Flight.
George Scott is proving adept at improving recruits from other yards, and that success was a career-best by some way. He’s unexposed at this trip but is by an Arc winner and out of a mare who won at Listed level over this distance, so the signs are encouraging that he will stay well enough to use his acceleration to winning effect.
Recommended Bet: Phantom Flight to win at 7/2 with BoyleSports
3:00 Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes, 1m6f, Group 2
Stamina is to the fore in the big Group 2 on the closing day as the fillies and mares lock horns over 1m6f.
John & Thady Gosden’s Free Wind heads the betting with most firms and ran well to finish second to Bluestocking over an inadequate trip at York last time. A winner over the distance and in Group 2 company, she merits respect but was beaten out of sight when sent off at odds-on in the 2023 edition of this.
Term Of Endearment is interesting for Henry De Bromhead, having scored in Group 3 company over this distance at York last time, whilst Grateful boasts a spectacular pedigree – by Galileo and out of wonder mare Tepin – and also bagged a 1m6f Group 3 event last time. Both make each way appeal, as does the stoutly bred Oxford Comma, who is up in class and trip but arrives seeking a hattrick for Ralph Beckett.
The class act in this field is Caius Chorister from the David Menusier operation. A winner at the track and over the distance, she failed to stay the 2m4f of the Ascot Gold Cup last time but had previously finished a head second to Sweet William and Coltrane in 2m contests at Ascot and Sandown. Dropping back to her optimum distance for the first time this season, a repeat of either of those runs may well be good enough.
Recommended Bet: Caius Chorister to win at 7/2 with BoyleSports
4:45 British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes, 7f, Class 2
We have no shortage of appealing pedigrees in the final Maiden event at the meeting. Richard Hannon’s Antelope is our pick of the debutantes, being by Lope De Vega and out of the Group 3 winning dam Anna Nerium. Hannon is perfectly capable of readying one first time out, and market confidence may signal a big run in the offing.
However, experience may be an advantage around this troublesome track, which sways us to those with one or more runs under their belt. Spell Master, Sir Peter Fossick, and Consolidation all appeal having filled the runners-up position last time, but the standout to our eyes is Angelo Buonarroti.
Fetching a whopping €1million at the Arqana May Breeze-Up, connections didn’t waste any time in plunging this son of Justify straight into the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. That proved a step too far on debut, but he showed an abundance of promise to go down by only 3l and faces a significant drop in class here. By Justify and out of a Galileo mare, this step up in trip should suit, and we suspect he may be hard to beat on his first start since switching to the Ralph Beckett yard.
Recommended Bet: Angelo Buonarroti to win at 7/4 with bet365
Paul Harrison
Falling in love with racing at a young age, Paul’s passion for sports and betting took him to Salford University, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics with Gambling Studies. Having spent ten years in the employment of a leading bookmaker, Paul opted to go it alone and pursue his dream job as a freelance writer.
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