The Glorious Goodwood

This is the second article looking at UK racecourses. Last months looked at Doncaster and this month we head down to the south coast of England to focus on Goodwood racecourse. The home of one of British horse racing’s most loved and enduring horse racing festivals “Glorious Goodwood”.

“Glorious” Goodwood, which is held annually in late July & early August, has been for decades one of the mid-Sumner highlights of British horse racing and indeed it’s also one of the essential elements to what is known as the ‘British Social Season’, which includes such events as Royal Ascot, Henley Royal Regatta and Wimbledon. I am grateful to the website www.thesloaney.com for that latter nugget of information.

What was popularly known as “Glorious” Goodwood, officially became the Qatar Goodwood Racing Festival in 2015 when the racecourse unveiled a 10-year sponsorship deal with Qatar. Well, sponsors come and go but something things never change and that’s why it will always be “Glorious” Goodwood to me and many other racegoers.

Feature races at the festival include the Susses Stakes, Goodwood Cup, Nassau Stakes and the Stewards Cup.

Outside the big midsummer festival, the racecourse also hosts plenty of other flat race meetings most notably the three-day spring meeting in May and another over three days meeting in late August, when the feature race is the Celebration Mile.

As before I will look briefly at the tracks location, history, configuration and two of it’s biggest races. In the final section, I will highlight some significant trainer stats at Goodwood, including some that relate purely to the upcoming festival.

Location and History

Goodwood racecourse is situated about five miles north of the town of Chichester in the historic English county of Sussex. It’s under the stewardship of the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House, a country house and an estate of some 12,000 acres. The grounds are also the site of the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Circuit which is a motorsport track at Chichester /
Goodwood Airport.

In 1802. the 3rd Duke of Richmond introduced horseracing to Goodwood for the entertainment of local army officers. A week of racing was held on the estate during summer and became so popular that became known as “Glorious Goodwood”.

The use of the word Glorious stems from the racecourses location, which many consider being the most picturesque setting for horse racing in the world. The racecourse which is located on the Sussex Downs is close to Trundle Hill. The Hill is a popular, relatively cheap, albeit slightly distant vantage point, for racegoers to view the races. The top of the hill also provides stunning panoramic views across to Chichester and the English Channel. The tracks closeness to the coast can have its downside of course. During the spring and summer, in particular, the courses can be shrouded in coastal fog depending on the wind strength, wind direction and land temperature.

On a sunny Summer’s day, there’s no finer place to watch horse racing and you can see why it’s called “Glorious” Goodwood. It can also be “Inglorious” Goodwood too. The 2017 Qatar Goodwood Festival was anything but glorious with heavy rainfall during the week, leading to some very soft underfoot conditions.

Track Configuration

Goodwood is a right-handed track and it’s a fairly unique racecourse.

There is a straight six furlongs which is known as the “Stewards Cup Course” and is uphill for the first furlong and then mostly downhill to the winning post. The 5f course given its downhill gradient is one of the fastest in Britain. It suits horses that have the speed to grab a good early position in their races.

The round track has two bends. The lower bend is used by all races run up to 1m 2f whilst all races above 1m 3f use the top bend.

Although there is a 5f long straight from the top bend until the finish, the sharp turns and undulations make this a racecourse a fairly sharp one which favours the well balanced, handy type of horse.

The round course in particularly can be a tricky course for horse and jockey which often leads to plenty of hard luck stories as horses close to the far rail often find trouble in getting a run. Jockey’s either have to sit and suffer and hope a gap will appear or have to switch their mounts to the outside to get a clear run, losing vital momentum at the wrong time in the race. At the bottom bend, the ground also runs away from the runners and that in combination with the fairly sharp bend finds out plenty of horses.

The start for the 2m 5f “Cup Course” is close to the winning post – horses travel back up the straight, around the loop and back. Like all the races around the loop, the runners face severe undulations and a few sharp turns.

Home of Sussex Stakes and the Goodwood Cup

The Goodwood Cup is for horses aged three years or older and is run over a distance 2m. The race is one of the oldest in the British Flat racing calendar and throughout its long history its undergone many modifications in its distance. For example, the first Goodwood Cup, in 1812, was run over a distance of 3m, in 1833 the race was shortened to 2m 5f and stayed at that distance until 1990. In 1991 the race was once again shortened to its present 2m distance. The race has also seen a few changes in terms of its classification. In 1971 it became a Group 2 but the race was downgraded to a Group 3 in 1985. Group 2 status was restored in 1995 and in 2017 it became a Group 1 race with prize money in excess £500,000.

The most successful horse in the history of the race was the Mark Johnston trained Double Trigger who took the race in 1995, 1997 & 1998. More recently Big Orange took the 2015 & 2016 renewals and the 2017 race was won by the John Gosden, trained 3-year-old Stradivarius.

In the past decade, the race has attracted an average field of eleven runners, with a total of 114 runners going to post for the race.
In that time, it’s paid to look for runners well fancied in the betting, as no winner has gone off at odds bigger than 8/1.

A placed effort on the horses last run looks a major positive as all the last ten winners of the race had finished in the first three on their start.

Indeed, if you concentrated on runners 8/1 & under that had finished in the first three in their last race has produced the following set of results:

10 winners from 32 runners +20.78 17 placed

Sussex Stakes is another Group 1 race held at the Qatar Goodwood Racing Festival.

This time run over 1m. The race was first run over the present distance in 1878 when it became the centrepiece of the whole meeting even surpassing the Goodwood Cup & Stewards Cup in importance. It was restricted to 3-year-old only until 1960 when the race was opened up to 4-year-olds and it was opened up to horses 5-year-old plus in 1975.

In the past 40 years, the race has been won by some great racehorses with the likes of Chief Singer, Rousillion, Sonic Lady, Soviet Star, Warning, Giant’s Causeway, Rock Of Gibraltar and Kingman. In 2011, the 3-year-old Frankel took on the 2010 winner Canford Cliffs in what became known as “Duel on the Downs”.

It’s fair to say that race is one of quality over quantity and doesn’t attract a big field of runners. the average field size for the race in the past ten years has been six runners, with a total of just 65 horses going to post.

The 2017 race was run on soft ground which may well have contributed to Here Comes When’s 20/1 win. Otherwise, it’s hard to knock the record of the favourite who had won 8 of the previous 9 races.

Since 2008, the classic generation has produced 70% of the winners from 38% of the total number of runners.

Track Stats

Here are a few interesting trainer track stats that will hopefully enable you to identify some nice priced winners at Goodwood. The stats below are from 2014 to the time of writing (03/07/17) and cover all meetings at the course.

Trainers – All Meetings

Odds SP: 8/1 & under:

Ian Williams – 7 winners from 16 runners 44% +12.65 A/E 1,58 9 placed 56%

Sylvester Kirk – 8 winners from 20 runners 40% +17.88 A/E 1.87

Gary Moore – 8 winners from 24 runners 33% +10.21 A/E 1.73 13 placed 54%

Race Class:

Roger Charlton – Class 1 – 5 winners from 15 runners 33% +9 A/E 1.77 9 placed 60%

Mark Johnston – Class 2 – 8 winners from 25 runners 32% +22.25 A/E 2.07 13 placed 52%

Henry Candy – Class 5 – 7 winners from 23 runners 31% +10.18 A/E 1.67 11 placed 48%

Distance:

Sir Michael Stoute – 1m 4f – 8 winners from 21 runners 38% +6.63 A/E 1.63 13 placed 62%

Mark Johnston – 1m – 5 winners from 15 runners 31% -+16.75 A/E 2.35 8 placed 50%

Age Restrictions:

Gary Moore – 3yr olds only races – 7 winners from 18 runners 39% +45 A/E 3.45 8 placed 44%

Sylvester Kirk – 4yr old+ races – 4 winners from 11 runners 36% +4.88 5 placed 45%

Roger Varian – 2yr old races – 4 winners from 12 runners 33% +3.13 A/E 1.42 10 placed 83%

William Haggas – 3yr olds only races – 11 winners from 36 runners 31% +17.08 A/E 1.44 18 placed 50%

Ian Williams – 3yr old+ races – 6 winners from 20 runners 30% +65.4 A/E 2.2 8 placed 40%

Clear Favourites:

Aiden O’Brien – 7 winners from 7 runners 100% +7.56 A/E 1.96 7 placed 100%

Charles Hills – 5 winners from 7 runners 71% +9.86 A/E 1.88 6 placed 86%

Ian Williams – 5 winners from 8 runners 63% +4.64 A/E 1.61 5 placed 63%

Sir Michael Stoute – 15 winners from 31 runners 48% +10.06 A/E 1.44 20 placed 65%

Trainers – Glorious Goodwood

Odds SP: 8/1 & under:

Michael Bell – 4 winners from 9 runners +6.5 A/E 1.66 7 placed 78%

John Gosden – 6 winners from 17 runners 35% +13.78 A/E 1.63 9 placed 53%

Andrew Balding – 5 winners from 16 runners 31% +15.75 A/E 2.06 8 placed 50%
Race Class:

Sir Michael Stoute – Class 1 – 7 winners from 20 runners +5.75 A/E 1.63 12 60%

Distance:

Sir Michael Stoute – 1m 4f – 6 winners from 12 runners 50% +11 A/E 2.16 9 placed 75%

Clear Favourites:

Aiden O’Brien – 7 winners from 7 runners 100% +7.56 A/E 1.96 7 placed 100%

Sir Michael Stoute – 7 winners from 13 runners 54% +7.75 A/E 1.86 9 placed 69%

Well, hopefully you enjoyed this very brief look at Goodwood Racecourse.

Next month, I will be heading to Scotland to take a look at Ayr racecourse.

 

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