Day one of the Glorious Goodwood festival didn't go to plan.
I think we can count ourselves unlucky on day one.
Easy Peeler was very restless in the preliminaries and got very warm. She didn't settle through the race, and I think all the misbehaving showed in the final 1.5f as she weakened very quickly. Unfortunately, I don't have a crystal ball, and it's something which can't be accounted for when picking a horse.
Noble Champion must have been lame. Kieran Shoemark tried pulling him up as soon as he left the gates. I haven't heard anything back on social media about his health, so hopefully, it's nothing sinister.
Omni Man 5/1 (1pt EW, 3pl) – Goodwood 1.20
With a lot of pace expected in the opener, having a hold-up horse might be the play. Omni Man made up good ground in his defeat to Merchant at Royal Ascot, so he will enjoy the pace collapse in front of him.
Usually, when I look at how the race unfolds in terms of pace, the complete opposite happens. However, with the likes of Mdawi, Cape Breton and Jupiter Ammon all being front runners, it bodes well.
I think the form of Omni Man's run from Royal Ascot is the strongest in this race. Merchant's form has been franked throughout the season before Royal Ascot, and his form from last time out stacks up. The runner-up was second in a Group 1, and others in behind have run creditably in defeat.
This trip might be a bit of a concern based on how his final furlong effort weakened at Ascot. I see him enjoying the trip at a course like Goodwood as it's not as stamina taxing as Ascot. This track isn't as stiff as Ascot, and the downhill five furlongs should allow him to motor from the back and have stamina in reserve.
Ryan Moore didn't manage to land a win on day one, but Goodwood is a very tactical course and you don't want anyone else on board than Ryan Moore.
Down Memory Lane 6/1 (1pt EW, 6pl) – Galway 6.40
The big race for the third day of the Galway Festival is the Galway Plate. I don't think this is a vintage renewal, and you can probably put a line through the majority of them. Down Memory Lane caught my eye the most as a possible improver over today's longer trip.
I think that since obtaining this horse from the PTP scene, they've believed this lad is a Grade 1 horse. I don't think it has worked out how they expected it to be, but maybe that's because he isn't as quick as they first thought. He was impressive on his sole bumper run, and since then, the majority of his runs over hurdles and fences have been over short trips. He has been entered in three Grade 1 races, and hasn't gone particularly well in two of them. They are putting him up in trip and reverting back to a handicap, both of which make him a very interesting horse.
His Grade 1 run at Sandown behind L'Eau du Sud wasn't a bad effort, and neither was the runner-up finish to Lecky Watson.
Gordon Elliott is very good at landing races like this with horses who have the ‘class' angle. He's not a proven Class 1 horse, but I think in time over longer trips like today, he'll prove himself. We know he stays the trip, as he won his sole PTP race over 3m by 9.5L.
GambleAware