Glorious Goodwood Lennox Stakes & Goodwood Cup Preview.

One of the key festivals of the flat campaign kicks off this week in Glorious Goodwood and there’s some absolute belting contests to be had. All the big guns will be out such as Ribchester, Winter, Big Orange… and i’ll start off my preview with the action that kicks off on Tuesday.

This year’s Lennox Stakes looks to be a decent renewal and a very competitive one at that. It’s headed by as you probably already know by now one of my personal favourites in Limato for Henry Candy. Now, Limato clearly has the ability to still dine at the top table as we saw on just his last run when second behind Harry Angel in the July Cup at Newmarket.

The on going issue that has blighted his career somewhat is the ground as on his day on lightening quick ground he has the ability to win any Group 1 on the planet never mind a Group 2. He has however been declared now for this which suggests connections are willing to give it a go and and I absolutely think he’s still the one to beat here.

If we do get rain and the ground softens the main dangers look to be Spirit Of Valor and Librisa Breeze. Both have form on soft ground which will play hugely in their favour here if said rain does grace the downs.

Home Of The Brave can’t be ruled out either, he’s been running very well lately and could just well outrun his generous odds of a general 15/2.

I’m sticking with my old friend Limato though here as he’s still the best horse in this field on ratings and is a few pounds clear of everything else. Spirit Of Valor, Home Of The Brave and Librisa Breeze are all strong each way alternatives trading at 6/1, 15/2 and 4/1 respectively.

The first Group 1 contest of the week and its the behemoth of a race that is the Goodwood Cup and it’s headed by this year’s Ascot Gold Cup winner Big Orange who comes here looking to make it three wins in a row in this race. He’s going to be very hard to peg back here if truth be told and the market backs that up too, he absolutely loves it over this trip and track. He’s a general 10/11 shot and Frankie Dettori is back on board.

A couple of nice each way alternatives that I like here are Stradivarius and Higher Power. Stradivarius comes here on the back of a win in the Group 2 Queens Vase at Royal Ascot for John Gosden and looks a very nice progressive stayer, he’s a general 14/1 for this on what looks like a path to the St Leger.

I tipped Higher Power up for the Northumberland Plate when he duly delivered and he looks another nice progressing horse for James Fanshawe. Albeit on different surfaces now if he repeats that run here he could make a bold bid to get into the frame. He also has form on both good and soft ground which could be a key factor. He’s trading at a general 16/1 for this.