Toormore carried new colours here, yet there were definite hints of his old talent and determination as he held off every challenge to win the Group Two Lennox Stakes, the feature event on Glorious Goodwood’s opening card. Europe’s champion juvenile in 2013 had been on a gentle downslope ever since, caught and passed by the best of his generation as they matured at three and four, but, now that he has remembered how to win, a final flourish might not be beyond him.
Toormore was a single-figure price for the 2,000 Guineas after beating The Grey Gatsby in last season’s Craven Stakes. The runner-up that day went on to win the French Derby and the Irish Champion Stakes but, for Toormore, a blustery April afternoon on Newmarket heath was as good as it got. There was nothing wrong with his attitude. At Group One level, though, attitude alone is rarely enough and, despite a series of worthy performances in major races, Toormore could not add to his sole Group One victory, in the 2013 National Stakes at The Curragh.
He may still require a little luck to do so now but Goodwood, on this day in particular, seems to suit him well. Toormore took the Vintage Stakes on this card in 2013 and finished second in the Lennox, also over seven furlongs, 12 months ago.
The latest recruit to run in Godolphin blue is probably better at a mile, but the operation has Night Of Thunder, last season’s 2,000 Guineas winner, and Belardo, who took the Dewhurst in October, to represent them in Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes. For the moment, Toormore is cast as an able deputy and fulfilling the role well.
James Doyle made all the running on the 9-4 joint-favourite, confident that his mount would find more when asked, and though Dutch Connection, his market rival, was staying on well in the closing stages, the winner did more than enough to maintain his lead and still had three-quarters of a length to spare at the post.
Safety Check, another Godolphin runner, was a further head away in third after being held up several lengths behind Toormore until the final quarter-mile.
“You don’t become the champion two-year-old without being a special horse and hopefully he’ll turn out to be that towards the end of the year,” Richard Hannon, the winner’s trainer, said. “He’s a lovely horse to have about, he always does his bit and he’s a pleasure to deal with. There’s plenty of options for him abroad, I think his next race will be the [Prix] Jacques le Marois [at Deauville in August].
“He hasn’t been winning and that’s why it was so important for him to get a win today.” Asked if Toormore could win another Group One, Hannon replied: “I know he can, he’s done it before and that sort of performance there is good enough. He’s a horse to be feared at the highest level. He did it the hard way. They came to him one by one. He needed to get a win under his belt to get his confidence back and now we can move on to the next level.”
Adam Kirby, who missed the winning ride on Postponed in Saturday’s King George at Ascot after the owner, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, jocked him off in favour of Andrea Atzeni, took the opening race in the Sheikh’s colours on Mount Logan and made it clear afterwards that he remains committed to his role as the owner’s retained jockey.
“I was delighted for Postponed, because he deserved to pick up a big one, and for Luca Cumani and the boss and the whole team,” Kirby said, “but obviously I felt a little niggle”.
The winner’s owner confirmed that Atzeni will keep the ride on Postponed, who will now be aimed at the Prix Foy in September and then the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe the following month, but mainly because he feels it was a “lucky” decision. “I have never lost faith in Adam,” the Sheikh said. “It is only that he could not have luck on Postponed. It was only one horse, that’s all, because all of my [other] horses will be ridden by Adam.
“If I had something against Adam, you would have seen me taking the job off him. I have nothing against Adam and he knows this.”
Richard Hughes, who will retire from race-riding at the end of Glorious Goodwood, started the day as the favourite to be the week’s leading jockey but he is out to 5-1 after drawing a blank from six rides.
None of Hughes’s rivals managed more than a single winner, however, including William Buick, who steered the 20-1 chance Blue Wave to success in the Summer Stakes, a 14-furlong handicap. The winner, who is trained by Mark Johnston, was returning from a 416-day absence due to injury and was Johnston’s 44th winner in July, a new record for the trainer in a calendar month.
