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We mark your card with five to follow at Glorious Goodwood
Baaeed ridden by Jim Crowley wins The Queen Anne Stakes during Royal Ascot — © Getty Images
Stradivarius (Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup – Today)
The most accomplished stayer of recent times and a rarity in that he is a full horse still racing at the age of eight.
Andrea Atzeni takes over in the saddle from fellow Italian Frankie Dettori, whose ride on Stradivarius in this year’s Ascot Gold Cup was heavily criticised. Atzeni has a three-from-three record on the son of Sea The Stars, including the horse’s first two Goodwood Cup victories. He has since won it twice more and a record-extending fifth success would be quite something. But standing in his way are last year’s winner, Trueshan (if it is soft enough for him to be allowed to take his chance), Kyprios, the Ascot Gold Cup winner which is the new kid on the block in the division, the Irish mare Princess Zoe, and Coltrane, which is on a winning roll.
Baaeed (Qatar Sussex Stakes – Tomorrow)
Almost but not quite Frankel-esque in his ability, Baaeed is unbeaten in eight starts. Unraced at two, in the space of three months last year he went from winning a Leicester maiden to victory in the Group One Prix du Moulin at Longchamp. That is racing’s equivalent of a vertical take-off.
He added the QEII at Ascot for good measure and has been untroubled in adding the Lockinge and Queen Anne to his CV this season. This will be his first time against this year’s Classic generation, headed by Poulains winner Modern Games in the absence of 2,000 Guineas scorer Coroebus, which has been ruled out with an abscess. A bigger threat is likely to be posed by last year’s winner, Alcohol Free, which is fresh from winning the July Cup.
Rocket Rodney (Markel Molecomb Stakes – Tomorrow)
A very fast two-year-old who broke his maiden at Goodwood, so has the big plus of course form to his name, and was not beaten far on his third start by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Little Big Bear – which has subsequently won his next race, a Group Three in Ireland, by nearly five lengths – in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Rocket Rodney’s jockey, Daniel Muscutt, is one of the most improved riders over the past couple of seasons and is becoming first choice for a lot of Newmarket’s middle-sized yards.
Nashwa (Qatar Nassau Stakes – Thursday)
Hollie Doyle made history by becoming the first female to ride a Classic winner in a major European racing nation when partnering this filly to victory in the French Oaks last month.
This 10-furlong trip looks Nashwa’s optimum and she should be hard to beat, while Doyle continues in flying form, having become the first Flat jockey, male or female, to surpass the 100-winner mark in Britain this calendar year.
Royal Scotsman (Richmond Stakes – Thursday)
The stable has a fine record in the meeting’s two-year-old races and has another potentially very smart juvenile in the shape of Jim and Fitri Hay’s Royal Scotsman. Like Rocket Rodney, he, too, easily won his maiden here, and he ran a cracking race to finish third to Bradsell in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.
His rivals include Chateau, which won a Listed race last time, and two could-be-anything, once-raced winners in Noble Style and Marshman.
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