DAY three of the Qatar Goodwood Festival features the Qatar Nassau Stakes Group 1 which sees Emily Upjohn and Opera House very tightly matched at the head of the market. At a bigger price and with the ground in her favour my selection Stay Alert has more than enough ability to run a big race.
Enjoy whether at Goodwood or watching #athome on ITV Racing and Racing TV.
Cheers
The Wine Tipster
1:50 Goodwood – Kincsem Handicap (1m 2f)
Aragon Castle won well at Hamilton last time out when beating James McHenry by two and quarter lengths on good going when making all after finishing second at Goodwood on his previous start. Aragon Castle is stepping up to this trip for the first time and he certainly ran to the line over a mile and half furlong at Hamilton with another strong performance expected here of a career high mark of 92.
Unibet are paying MONEY BACK as CASH if your pick finishes 2nd or 3rd in this race!
Mortlake badly needed his first start of the year at York in May but he stepped up considerably on that when beaten just under four lengths at Salisbury last time out, plugging on gamely despite finding both the pace too slow and the trip too short. This step up to 10f looks guaranteed to bring about some improvement in him, and there’s pace everywhere you look, so there must be a very good chance he’s going to step up again.
3:00 Goodwood – John Pearce Racing Season Gordon Stakes Group 3 (1m 4f)
Sayedaty Sadaty has some quality Group 1 form to his name after his fifth in the Derby, a run that marked him out as a thorough stayer. This is his first appearance since the Epsom classic and with Bellum Justum and Align The Stars likely to set the pace, Sayedaty Sadaty can come from off the pace and utilise his undoubted stamina and hold off Jan Brueghelis, who is unbeaten in two starts this season and impressed with his attitude at the Curragh when winning the Dubal International Stakes last time out. This is tougher and Sayedaty Sadaty is the selection.
Unibet are BOOSTING the price of the favourite in this one!
3:35 Goodwood – Qatar Nassau Stakes Group 1 (1m 2f)
Stay Alert beat Running Lion by three and a half lengths in the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket which is good form, and she has to rate as the each-way bet in a race where Opera Singer’s second to Porta Fortuna in the Coronation Stakes is excellent form and she heads the market at Unibet 13/8.
The problem is consistency with Stay Alert, as she seems to follow a good run with a bad one, but equally it isn’t hard to a see a pattern, as her lesser efforts seem to come with cut in the ground. For example, on her last start she didn’t act on the ground in the Pretty Polly at the Curragh when she was fifth to Bluestocking, with Emily Upjohn second and Lumiere Rock fourth, who she takes on again here. It is worth noting that Stay Alert was second on good ground in the 2023 Pretty Polly to Via Sistina when badly hampered. The weather forecast is ever changing with around 3mm predicted on Thursday after a dry Wednesday so conditions will be fine for Stay Alert.
5.55 Goodwood – Handicap (1m)
Treasure Time (nap) is improving all the time and was marked up in my Unibet blog when second beaten a neck by First Conquest at the July Festival for which the handicapper raised him from a mark of 81 to 87. This followed a victory on the same course back in June when beating Jungle Mac (reopposes here) on good to firm.
Although this is a typically competitive handicap at Goodwood Treasure Time will run another big race.
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