The result seemed immaterial after the Group One Goodwood Cup on Tuesday as confirmation arrived that Trueshan, one of the most popular horses in training thanks to a hugely successful partnership with his regular jockey, Hollie Doyle, had sustained a fatal injury in the two-mile feature event on the opening day of Glorious Goodwood.
Trueshan sustained a fracture of his left-hind pastern while galloping uphill on the far side of the track and was immediately attended by the track’s veterinary team. Alan King’s nine-year-old gelding had set off as a 22-1 chance for a repeat of his win in this race in 2021, which was Trueshan’s first success – and Doyle’s second – at Group One level.
“I’m just devastated,” Doyle said later. “It couldn’t be any worse. He was a special, special horse, I can’t think of anything else to say. I am gutted. He’s been amazing for me, a star, and those memories we have together are some of my very best.”
The race on Tuesday was the 35th start of Trueshan’s career, during which he was a last-minute scratch from several major races because of concerns over fast ground.
In addition to his Goodwood Cup success four years ago, he recorded two wins in the Group One Prix du Cadran at Longchamp in October, one in the Group Two Doncaster Cup and three in the Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Champions Day in October. Trueshan also put up one of the most impressive handicap performances of recent decades in the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle in 2022, when he won the famous two-mile race under 10st 8lb off an official mark of 120.
James Given, the British Horseracing Authority’s director of equine welfare, told Racing TV that “like all the horses running here today, Trueshan was examined by my team this morning and gave us no concerns””
Given said: “What has happened unfortunately is just an accident, mid-race, in a straight line going up a hill. His left-hind pastern broke and left him in a situation that wasn’t recoverable from.
“He would have been immediately sedated and given pain relief while vets examined the extent of the injury. Alan was able to get down there and assess him with the vets, and they felt there was no option really but to put him down.”
Scandinavia, the eventual winner of the race on Tuesday, was the first three-year-old to secure the prize since Stradivarius, who went on to win the Ascot Gold Cup three times, in 2017.
Aidan O’Brien’s colt got the better of a sustained struggle with his stable companion and favourite, Illinois, and is now likely to set off as the market leader for the St Leger at Doncaster next month.
“They were head-to-head all the way down the straight and it was exactly what you like to watch,” O’Brien said. “He’s by Justify and he showed what we see in Justifys all the time, they will not lie down. No matter how tired they get, the strides keeps going and the head keeps down.”
Take Gold to shine in Sussex
Field Of Gold’s three-year-old career to date has been an near-facsimile of his sire Kingman’s second season on the track, even including a second-place finish in a 2,000 Guineas that he probably should have won, and the pattern is likely to continue at Goodwood on Wednesday when John & Thady Gosden’s colt lines up for the Group One Sussex Stakes.
Field Of Gold (3.05) will probably set off at a similar price to Kingman too, as his sire was a 2-5 shot to beat three rivals in this race 11 years ago and Field Of Gold is also odds-on for his first start in all-aged company.
Field Of Gold confirmed his status as the season’s best three-year-old miler with an emphatic three-and-a-half-length defeat of Aidan O’Brien’s Henri Matisse in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
Henri Matisse is again among his half-dozen rivals on Wednesday and Goodwood’s sharp downland circuit is a different test, but even a master tactician such as O’Brien will struggle to hatch a plan to overturn his Ascot deficit and Rosallion, the St James’s Palace Stakes winner last year, is a more credible rival for the favourite.
Richard Hannon’s colt was a late scratch from the Sussex 12 months ago because of an infection and missed the rest of the campaign, and has just one more start on his career record than Field Of Gold. Even his best form to date gives him something to find with the Gosdens’ runner, though, and the Classic generation’s recent dominance in this race – with four wins in the past six years – should continue.
Goodwood 1.20 A slow start from a wide draw left Sing Us A Song with a mountain to climb in the King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot last time and he did well to finish within seven lengths of the winner in the circumstances. He is better judged on the form of his win at Sandown in April, and Goodwood – where he was a winner as a juvenile – will suit his prominent running style.
Goodwood 1.55 The lightly raced Tabiti was sent off at 11-2 for the Group One Fillies’ Mile last October and, while that proved to be a step too far, she put up an eye-catching performance to finish third on her seasonal and handicap debut in a hot race at Royal Ascot last month. This seven-furlong Group Three looks ideal as she starts to work her way back into Pattern company.
Goodwood 1.20 Sing Us A Song (nap) 1.55 Tabiti 2.30 Ameeq (nb) 3.05 Field Of Gold 3.45 Bintjeddah 4.20 Zelaina 4.55 Diamondonthehill
Redcar 2.10 Tactical Formation 2.45 Circios 3.20 Triple Force 4.00 Callisto Dream 4.35 Brian The Snail 5.10 Good Karma
Sandown 5.45 Tempus 6.15 Novelette 6.50 Look To The Stars 7.25 Blue Train 8.00 Manila Thriller 8.30 Valiancy
Leicester 5.55 You Are Everything 6.28 Awaken 7.03 Dinamo 7.38 Suhub 8.13 Spectacular Style 8.43 Versailles Prince
Goodwood 2.30 Ameeq showed significant improvement to outrun a three-figure price and finish fourth in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. He was also arguably unlucky not to finish closer as he was struck on the head by a rival jockey’s whip inside the final furlong, and this high-speed test should suit his strong-travelling style.
Goodwood 3.45 It took Bintjeddah a while to go through the gears before her second-place finish at Newmarket last time and this step up in trip could be what she needs.
