Not So Glorious Goodwood

Nicholls usually has loads of runners in top sprints races..had 6 in the Stewards Cup last year..relies on just one today..Victoire De Lyphar...well handicapped compared to last year and a second to a 104 horse last time suggests now ready for winning..12.5 on bfair

I fancy Timepiece in the Nassau..needs two runs every year to hit form..has won every year on 3rd run bar for when it were oaks..won nto that year.....best rating from last 12 months puts her right in the mix
 
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Es Que Love hasn't been seeing out a stiff 6f against older horses, but this sharp track should be right up his street. 18/1 will do nicely.
 
Motivado looks the one for the Ebor after this run


about the rules
ban the jockey but why disqualifed the winner
french style is obviously unfair but it looks the people liking it is increasing day by day

I still remember how Royal Gait was robbed the Gold Cup and what is now ruling is much fairer and much better for me-
 
Don't know if it was because of the Olympics but I can't remember a Goodwood meeting that I paid less heed to. The Sussex and the Nassau were the only races I watched all week.
 
It was massively overshadowed wasn't it.

Same as for Frankel

Great week for Johnson

Otherwise it was very humdrum.


This flat season needs Nathaniel, Cirrus and St Nicholas Abbey to take Frankel on at York.

Great Heavens to run in the Leger and it least not make it Camelot against a bunch of Group 3 slow boats.

A good renewal of the Arc.
 
The first two days of Royal Ascot were great but since that I've felt a bit underwhelmed, the Irish Derby was poor, So You Think's absence seriously lessened the Eclipse, and only the King George provided any degree of excitement. I hope the rest of the season improves.
 
I've travelled far and wide to see Champions and/or potential Champions both on the flat and over jumps. Watching of a great performance is exhilarating especially when it is a sport I love. Ideally one would like to watch superstars compete against each other but that is a rare occurrence as true superstars are by definition rare. The next best thing is to see the very best of a generation competing at their optimum distance. Again by definition there are a limited number of races where this can happen in either discipline.

Several people on this and other forums have a condescending attitude to handicap racing however, whilst there should be 'punter beware' signs on low value handicaps that are merely fillers, the substantial majority of higher value handicaps produce the exciting finishes that I, and I suspect, many others enjoy. The two big Goodwood handicaps yesterday and today both produced an exciting, close finish in pretty fair conditions. One was won by a horse rapidly rising through the ratings the other by one that has to.put in something special on the day to actually win on its current mark.
This is the thrill of decent competition where one has plenty of information on the participants and and the opportunity to make reasonably informed punting decisions, be they right or wrong. Goodwood with its quirks introduces some unique factors that need to be taken into account which makes the challenge even more interesting. Great. Races like this for me are like the Times or Telegraph crosswords on any particular day. I either get get them right or fill in few squares. The added benefit of a good handicap is that I will 'know' many of the horses and to some degree identify with them. You might say I get involved.

Not intended as a rant but giving my views on one element of the Frankel debate and why I don't quite understand why the merits of a good handicap are not recognised by some who share my passion for the sport.
 
For me I've always done OK on handicaps but only because I have a short list of horses to follow and back them if conditions suit. I don't really take any note of the opposition and so I suppose I don't appreciate them for the puzzles they are. I certainly never get the form book out and try and pick one out cold. Quite envious of those that can.
 
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