Hugo Palmer Blog | Glorious Goodwood Day One
30 Jul 2024
Coral Racing Ambassador, Hugo Palmer, previews his two runners on the first day of Glorious Goodwood, including Wolf Of Badenoch in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes.
14:25 Goodwood – Wolf Of Badenoch
Wolf Of Badenoch is a horse we have always liked, and as many will remember, when I was asked by Coral to select a two-year-old to follow for this season, I went with Wolf Of Badenoch. It was great to see him make a winning start at Doncaster last month, and he’s done really well physically since then, so I think he’s strengthening up and developing all the time. He’s a good solid horse, and he seems very balanced, so I think he’ll handle the track at Goodwood just fine. He will of course need to step forward from his debut effort in this hotter company, but that is always the way with two-year-olds like this, and until you try, you don’t really know how good they are.
Aidan O’Brien has the favourite, and you’d have to respect him as he’s Aidan’s choice to run in the race, but he has been withdrawn twice now on easier ground, and the going at Goodwood is currently on the easier side of good. He also only won his maiden by half a length, and the form of that race has not really worked out too well, so the race could be there to be won if our horse is good enough.
I think 7f is the right trip for Wolf Of Badenoch at the moment, but I’d be hopeful he’d get at least a mile next year. He’s actually out of a Galileo mare who stayed very well, so he may even get a mile and a quarter in time, but then his dad Pinatubo didn’t really get a mile, so it will be interesting to see how this horse develops.
But in the here and now, I’m really looking forward to running Wolf Of Badenoch in this race, and I just hope he can give a good account of himself.
17:20 Goodwood – Cheshire Dancer
I do like this filly, and apart from one blip at Kempton, she’s been the absolute model of consistency. She’s given her owners some great pleasure, and we’ll be hoping she can do that once again at Glorious Goodwood. It is a competitive race of course, and she’s drawn quite wide, but its not as a big a field as I thought it was going to be, so hopefully the draw won’t be too much of an inconvenience for her. She seems fairly versatile with regard to underfoot conditions as she’s ran well on good ground, good to firm and on the all-weather, so I’m sure the ground won’t be an issue here for Cheshire Dancer.
I thought she ran a really solid race at Ascot last time, and she goes again here off the same mark, so if she runs her race as she usually does, then I’d be very hopeful that she can get involved and bag some prize money at the very least.
Goodwood Cup Preview
I didn’t think this was the strongest Group 1 I’d ever seen, which is a bit of a shame for a race like this, but I think there just seems to be a real shortage of top-class stayers in this country. It’s not a huge surprise as there are less and less of them bred, and some of good ones go jumping, some are sold overseas for big money, and it just means that this division remains slightly uncompetitive. It doesn’t help that the Lillie Langtry is also on this week, so a horse like Caius Chorister who probably would have run in this has that option instead, and who can blame her connections for going for that as it will probably be a more winnable opportunity for them.
I expect Kyprios will win as he seems the best stayer around at the moment, and he has plenty in hand on ratings, but it would be great if a horse like Trueshan could win it, but I just suppose it’s a case of whether the ground will be soft enough for Alan King’s horse. Sweet William, Gregory and Coltrane are all very good horses on their day, but on the evidence that we have, it looks like it’s going to be very difficult for them to get the better of Aidan’s horse.
Hugo Palmer, Coral Racing Ambassador
14:25 Goodwood – Wolf Of Badenoch
Wolf Of Badenoch is a horse we have always liked, and as many will remember, when I was asked by Coral to select a two-year-old to follow for this season, I went with Wolf Of Badenoch. It was great to see him make a winning start at Doncaster last month, and he’s done really well physically since then, so I think he’s strengthening up and developing all the time. He’s a good solid horse, and he seems very balanced, so I think he’ll handle the track at Goodwood just fine. He will of course need to step forward from his debut effort in this hotter company, but that is always the way with two-year-olds like this, and until you try, you don’t really know how good they are.
Aidan O’Brien has the favourite, and you’d have to respect him as he’s Aidan’s choice to run in the race, but he has been withdrawn twice now on easier ground, and the going at Goodwood is currently on the easier side of good. He also only won his maiden by half a length, and the form of that race has not really worked out too well, so the race could be there to be won if our horse is good enough.
I think 7f is the right trip for Wolf Of Badenoch at the moment, but I’d be hopeful he’d get at least a mile next year. He’s actually out of a Galileo mare who stayed very well, so he may even get a mile and a quarter in time, but then his dad Pinatubo didn’t really get a mile, so it will be interesting to see how this horse develops.
But in the here and now, I’m really looking forward to running Wolf Of Badenoch in this race, and I just hope he can give a good account of himself.
17:20 Goodwood – Cheshire Dancer
I do like this filly, and apart from one blip at Kempton, she’s been the absolute model of consistency. She’s given her owners some great pleasure, and we’ll be hoping she can do that once again at Glorious Goodwood. It is a competitive race of course, and she’s drawn quite wide, but its not as a big a field as I thought it was going to be, so hopefully the draw won’t be too much of an inconvenience for her. She seems fairly versatile with regard to underfoot conditions as she’s ran well on good ground, good to firm and on the all-weather, so I’m sure the ground won’t be an issue here for Cheshire Dancer.
I thought she ran a really solid race at Ascot last time, and she goes again here off the same mark, so if she runs her race as she usually does, then I’d be very hopeful that she can get involved and bag some prize money at the very least.
Goodwood Cup Preview
I didn’t think this was the strongest Group 1 I’d ever seen, which is a bit of a shame for a race like this, but I think there just seems to be a real shortage of top-class stayers in this country. It’s not a huge surprise as there are less and less of them bred, and some of good ones go jumping, some are sold overseas for big money, and it just means that this division remains slightly uncompetitive. It doesn’t help that the Lillie Langtry is also on this week, so a horse like Caius Chorister who probably would have run in this has that option instead, and who can blame her connections for going for that as it will probably be a more winnable opportunity for them.
I expect Kyprios will win as he seems the best stayer around at the moment, and he has plenty in hand on ratings, but it would be great if a horse like Trueshan could win it, but I just suppose it’s a case of whether the ground will be soft enough for Alan King’s horse. Sweet William, Gregory and Coltrane are all very good horses on their day, but on the evidence that we have, it looks like it’s going to be very difficult for them to get the better of Aidan’s horse.
Hugo Palmer, Coral Racing Ambassador
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