2023 Glorious Goodwood Saturday Tips – DS
2023 Glorious Goodwood Saturday Preview
It felt like a lifetime since we backed Ancient Rome on Tuesday after the first three races today. It looked like our barren spell was set to continue on Friday but our e/w NAP White Lavender saved the day by placing at 28/1. Land Of Winter almost travelled too well and faded, Galeron got going too late and Orbaan ran as well as could be expected. Hopefully we can finish as strongly as we started, Dave Stevos’ 2023 Glorious Goodwood Saturday tips are below.
1.50 – Coral Stewards’ Sprint Handicap (Class 2)
With heavy rain forecast tomorrow, the ground will remain testing at Goodwood. At least the showers will loosen it up a bit so it won’t be tacky like it was on Friday. With just 14 horses declared for this race, the draw may not be as crucial as usual. An ability to handle testing ground will be more important and one that should go on it that looks pretty well handicapped is Cooperation.
Trained by Mike Murphy and Michael Keady, this son of Mehmas acts on soft ground. He won on soft at Thirsk (6f) back in May off 76 and he is just 4lbs higher today. Two starts ago he was beat less than a length in a decent race at Haydock off 80 so the 5yo has already proven he can be competitive off his current mark.
Slowly Away
He was a bit slow away in a 10k race at York last time and finished in midfield. It wasn’t a great run but hopefully the big prize money on offer here will result in an improved performance. It was also his first run after a near six week break, so maybe he might just have needed it.
It’s a sharp 6f at Thirsk where he last won, hopefully he can bounce back on this relatively similar track. At odds of 18/1, Cooperation is the e/w selection.
2023 Glorious Goodwood Saturday Tip: Cooperation e/w @ 18/1 (4 places) NAP
2.25 – Coral Summer Handicap (Class 2)
The interesting one here at big odds is Tides Of War. Trained by David Simcock, Andrea Atzeni rides and this return to testing ground could be just what the doctor ordered. Formerly trained by Andre Fabre, this son of Galileo has some serious soft ground form in the book.
His first win came on very soft, his second win on good to soft and he produced his career best effort when a close third in a Longchamp G2 on his last 3yo start. He was just behind Manobo (rated 113), subsequent Listed winner Kemari (rated 108) and he had proven soft ground stakes performer Tashkan over 2l behind him in 5th.
Incredibly, he has only had soft ground once since then, when beat 2.25l in a Listed race at Saint Cloud. He shaped well over this C&D two runs ago off 95 so that’s a plus, and he’s been dropped to 93. On his best soft ground French form he looks very dangerously treated, at odds of 33/1 Tides Of War is worth backing e/w.
2023 Glorious Goodwood Saturday Tip: Tides Of War e/w @ 33/1 (4 places)
3.00 – Lily Langtry Stakes (Group 2)
Divina Grace has twice been a non-runner on good to soft, I’d imagine if the rain comes she might be taken out. That would leave just the seven runners and I was tempted to give this race a miss. However, Sumo Sam is too tempting a price to turn down at 25/1.
She’s rated 94 which means she has a lot to find with the top rated ones here. However, she ran the best race of her life her sole start on soft ground, so maybe she can improve again now returned to that type of surface. She did win her maiden on good at Newmarket but it was soft when she ran the best race of her career back there, finishing 2nd to Running Lion in Listed company (10f sft).
She ran poorly on quick ground on her next three starts but it was more like it at Ascot (12f gd/sft) last time. After missing the break badly she got too far back but she stayed on powerfully in the last furlong, running through the line strong. By Nathaniel and out of a dam related to some strong stayers, 14f on testing ground should be right up her street. At odds of 25/1, Sumo Sam is the e/w selection.
2023 Glorious Goodwood Saturday Tip: Sumo Sam e/w @ 25/1
3.35 – Stewards’ Cup (Heritage Handicap)
We landed a big winner in this race last season with the legend Commanche Falls. He won from stall 19, he was in stall 23 when winning the previous year and nine of the last thirteen winners were drawn 15 or higher. Makanah is drawn in stall 11 and though I’d prefer if he was drawn higher, I’m still going to back him at 40/1.
This 8yo son of Mayson has gone agonisingly close for us before at York. He has admittedly done most of his winning at 5f but he has loads of excellent runs at 6f, including in this race last season. He finished 7th of 28, beat 4.5l for the win off a mark of 102. Makanah gets in off 98 today, 2lbs lower than when beat 2L at York in May and 3lbs lower than when beat 3.75l at Doncaster on soft last September.
Paul Mulrennan has won four races on this lad before and he gets the leg up for the first time this season. He has run well plenty of times in the past on soft ground so the rain isn’t a worry and he should be in peak condition now after three runs this season. I’m hoping Camacho has targeted this race on the back of his run last year. If she has, Makanah is capable of outrunning his odds of 40/1. If she hasn’t, we’ll hopefully get our money back at York.
