Who To Follow On Day One Of Glorious Goodwood 2023

James Mackie | @JMackieRacing

Tue 01 Aug 2023 07.22

Goodwood 15:35

2(11)

Coltrane

J: Oisin Murphy

T: Andrew Balding

N/A

Age: 6

Weight: 9-11

OR: 117

Days: 40

The feature race of the afternoon is the Group One Goodwood Cup over two miles and we are giving another chance to Coltrane who we hope can reverse the form from Royal Ascot with Courage Mon Ami.

He took his form to a new level last term when finishing a good second in the Chester Vase in May last term and off the back of that came into the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot last year and went on to take the event from the well handicapped Bring On The Night off a mark of 98.

He built on that to make it back to back wins in the Listed Coral Marathon at Sandown and then ran another cracker to finish just over four lengths back in fourth in the Group One Goodwood Cup behind Kyprios, Stradivarius and Trueshan.

Seen three more times before the end of the season he was second at York behind the runaway winner Quickthorn in the Group Two Lonsdale Cup and then got back to winning ways in the Group Two Doncaster Stakes, seeing off the smart stayer Trueshan.

Finishing the season off at Ascot in the Group Two Long Distance Cup he was just pipped by the three time winner of the race Trueshan.

Back this season starting at Ascot over two miles in the Group Three Sagaro Stakes he looked better than ever when pulling away from a good field to bolt up.

He was last seen at Royal Ascot in the Group One Gold Cup and in a humdinger of a race he was seen off late on by the younger less exposed Courage Mon Ami.Dropping back to two miles we feel that Coltrane can reverse the form.

Andrew Balding will be looking to kick off the meeting with a bang and has plenty of big chances across the afternoon that makes him the man to follow.

One of his best chances of the afternoon for the Kingsclere team comes in the 6f Maiden with Array looking like the one to beat.

In the Coral Chesterfield Cup Handicap Balding fields Imperial Fighter who is a big price but could hit the frame if running to the best of his form.

Another big price for the yard that could run well on Tuesday is Spanish Phoenix in the Group Two Vintage Stakes with the soft ground going to be in his favour.

Holguin has been a model of consistency this term and he will be looking to outrun his odds again in the Group Two Lennox Stakes.

The big race of the day is the Goodwood Cup and Coltrane will be trying to reverse the form from the Gold Cup with Courage Mon Ami.

Balding's final runner of the afternoon comes in the Coral Fillies' Handicap and Floating Spirit is 2/3 in her career and now making her handicap debut can resume her form.

The trainer heads into the race currently running at a 18% strike rate for the last two weeks managing six winners from 33 runners.

Frankie Dettori has some superb chances on the first day of the meeting starting in the Group Two Vintage Stakes with Golden Mind for Richard Fahey looking to build on his third in the Chesham Stakes.

In the Group Two Lennox Stakes he teams up with Ralph Beckett on Kinross who gets back to his ideal conditions over 7f and also he is down in grade from Group Ones he has been running in this term.

The Goodwood Cup is the feature race of the afternoon and Dettori rides Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami who if handling the softer ground could be tough to beat.