C4 Racing: Goodwood Groups and Newmarket handicap tips
Published:
There’s a couple of tasty-looking Group races on Goodwood’s card this weekend, with one or two handicaps to get stuck into over on Newmarket’s July course.
From the pick of Channel 4’s racing coverage, we bring you three of the best bets on offer:
Six of the past eight Celebration Mile winners have been three years old, so it’s not surprising the two Classic-age runners here are vying for favouritism.
Trainer Clive Cox took this with Kodi Bear last year, his first crack at the race since Beacon Lodge got within a length of Dubawi Gold in third back in 2011.
After finding a few too hot to handle in the Group 1 Prix Jean Pratt earlier this summer, Zonderland got back on track with a fine win in Salisbury’s Group 3 Sovereign Stakes two weeks ago.
With Frankie Dettori on board, Cox’s inmate deserves respect in Group 2 company and gets the nod ahead of likely favourite Thikriyaat.
Ralph Beckett’s filly is one of just two runners set to go in this Group 3 having won her last race, and that could make all the difference judging by previous form.
Four of the past six Prestige Stakes-winning two-year-olds had scored last time out, with three others in the past decade going into the 7f dash unbeaten.
Rich Legacy saw off 10 horses on debut earlier this month and looks a likely type to land this at a tidy price under Oisin Murphy.
Top weight or a pound lighter has taken this handicap for two years on the trot, with 15/2 shot Wadi Al Hattawi scoring 12 months ago despite lugging around more than any other runner in the field, and 14/1 Nautilus landing the laurels under 9-11 a year earlier.
Yarrow, Sir Michael Stoute’s only runner in the 1m5f test, is in practically the same form Nautilus was in 2014, having echoed John Gosden’s gelding’s second and seventh-place finishes in his two races immediately prior to Newmarket.
None of the last three winners went into the race having claimed better than fourth last time out, so Stoute’s charge clearly has a chance at meaty outsider odds.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
