Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Today at Goodwood, we’ll see the first of the Saeed bin Suroor runners which probably ought to have had James Doyle aboard them, had there not been a rift within the lute. Instead, Sky Hunter will have William Buick aboard, which is hardly a disadvantage, since Buick rode him in the Melbourne Cup last year.
Very lightly raced, Sky Hunter is a Group Two winner who ought to be up to winning at the level of today’s Listed contest, so long as he can still express the best of his ability. That can’t be taken for granted in view of his comeback third in the September Stakes; while it’s normally fair to expect improvement on such a belated return, he has previously had a fine record when fresh.
So, along with most other punters, I prefer the claims of Mount Logan (3.45), who can surely be forgiven his flop here in July, at a time when Roger Varian’s horses were succumbing to the virus. He has since won handily at Doncaster and is a three-time winner at this tricky track. He’s just 11-10, however.
Pettochside (4.55) is another favourite on the card with a fine course record, the 9-2 shot having won three times here since August last year. He was arguably unlucky not to have made it four in June when, running from the same mark as today, he was a fast-finishing third after traffic trouble.
The return to six furlongs here should help and I’m inclined to think Josephine Gordon, aboard for the first time, will help as well.
Earlier, Fadillah is naturally a warm order for the middle-distance handicap, with form figures of ‘11’, but the William Haggas filly has not been seen since mid-May, when she did no more than she was entitled to do in beating five rivals at odds-on with just a neck to spare at the line.
I’d rather go with Street Poet (3.10), who took a big step forward on his handicap debut at Epsom recently, finishing well to be a close second. The extra distance should help Sir Michael Stoute’s horse.
I’m not sure that Ted Durcan (replacing Gordon, who rode last time) will help, given his 8% (4/51) record at this tricky course, or his 4% (1/28) return in the past fortnight. But opportunity is all and he still has an 18% record for Stoute this year.
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