Goodwood Festival Day One Review

The opening day of Glorious Goodwood was enthralling, and here we will take a look back at the action from Tuesday afternoon.

The highly anticipated 2024 Qatar Goodwood Festival got underway on Tuesday afternoon, which saw eight enthralling races take place, and here we are going to take a look back at the action from the opening day before day two starts at Goodwood Racecourse.

It was the latest iteration of the Coral Chesterfield Cup Handicap that got us underway on day one, with the pre-race favourite being Enfjaar, who was to be ridden by jockey Jim Crowley. Instead, a superb performance from Ben Coen on board a Johnny Murtagh trained Take Heart emerged victorious in the end.

All eyes were then on the following race, which was the HKJC World Pool Vintage Stakes. This was a race that saw the pre-race favourite match expectations with a victory for Aomori City after crossing the line first after fending off some stern competition from runner-up Wolf Of Badenoch and Cool Hoof Luke in third place. It was a superb ride from jockey William Buick.

Race three on the opening day of Glorious Goodwood 2024 was, of course, the HKJC World Pool Lennox Stakes, where Kinross was chosen to have the honour of being the pre-race favourite. Unfortunately for the Ralph Beckett trained horse, Kinross had to settle for third place, with it being Robert Havlin on board Audience who would come out on top, with Art Power coming second.

Then came the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes at what was the halfway point of the first day of action at Goodwood. Kyprios, the pre-race favourite broke the course record in his commanding victory with a time of 3 minutes and 21.53 seconds, 6.37 seconds faster than the previous record of 3 minutes 24.86 seconds by Soldier In Action in September 2018. Sweet William and Gregory settled for second and third place finishes in the end.

Race five came next, with the Coral Racing Club Handicap being won by Connor Beasley on board Tatterstall, who successfully managed to fend off some stern competition from Miss Attitude and Rocking Ends, who rounded off the top three in third place.

The sixth race of the first day of the 2024 Goodwood Festival was the latest running of the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes. It was pre-race favourite Jouncy, trained by Andrew Balding and ridden by Jockey Oisin Murphy who came out on top in the end, with James Doyle’s Carrados and Tom Marquand’s Wheels Of Fire coming in second and third place respectively.

Race Seven, the penultimate contest of the day came next in the form of the Ridgeview Fillies’ Handicap. It was Arisaig who came away victorious, finishing ahead of the likes of Surveyor and Strutting, with the former coming second and the latter coming in third place overall.

The eighth and final race to end the action for day one at the 2024 Goodwood Festival was the HKJC World Pool British EBF Fillies’ Handicap. Jason Watson managed to rise Kitai to victory ahead of runner-up Katey Kontent and pre-race favourite Dance And Romance, who had to settle for a third place finish in the end.

Excitement and anticipation will now be building for day two of the 2024 Qatar Goodwood Festival, with the following seven races taking place on Wednesday afternoon at Glorious Goodwood:

–          Coral Daily Rewards Shaker Handicap (13:50).

–          Visit Qatar Oak Tree Stakes (14:25).

–          Jaeger-Lecoultre Molecomb Stakes (15:00).

–          Qatar Sussex Stakes (15:35).

–          British Stallion Studs EBF Fillies’ Handicap (16:10).

–          British Stallion Studs EBF Alice Keppel Fillies’ Conditions Stakes (16:45).

–          HKJC World Pool Handicap (17:20).

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