ITV Racing Saturday Goodwood And Newmarket Preview

The opening contest of ITV's racing see's maiden colts take each other on to score their first victory racing. The field of nine has a mix of experienced and un-raced sorts.

Loyal Touch for Charlie and Mark Johnstone is one of those who arrives here with some experience under his belt having been seen in making his debut at Salisbury over 7 furlongs last month. The No Nay Never colt shaped nicely on his first start to be 3rd but not beaten too far. Well backed before the off to be favourite, Loyal Touch looked green in the final stages but stayed on nicely enough to be beaten less than a length at the finish.

With that experience in the books he will understand the task at hand more here and should fare better. Ryan Moore is a statement jockey booking by connections and he can score his first win of his career in this open looking race.

In the Steward's Sprint Handicap current market leader Lethal Levi arrives here at the Sussex Downs in fine form and rightly takes up a large chunk of the betting market.

Despite not finding much success last season as a 2 year old, Karl Burke's charge has been in fine form this campaign. After winning a class 4 handicap over 6 furlongs off a mark of 78, he then scored at the same level despite a rise to a mark of 81.

Despite having a couple of unlucky runs to be 4th and 2nd last month, the gelding has quickly got back on track winning his last two starts.

Scoring at Newmarket during the July festival off a mark of 85 with bundles in hand. A rise to a rating of 92 didn't curb his improvement and he defied the handicapper impressively again at Newmarket only a week ago.

Although now officially rated 100 he arrives here with only a 5lbs penalty for his last win. Being 9lbs well in, he's going to be hard to beat.

A well versed 6 year old gelding for Charlie and Mark Johnstone, Themaxwecan has already been seen 31 times on course in his career.

Climbing the handicap ranks throughout his time racing, he found success over 2 miles off high enough marks back in 2019. The last of his wins coming here at Goodwood.

The handicapper seemingly getting the better of him off the back of that win, he managed to win again when his mark dipped back below 100 last year over 14 furlongs. Again though he struggled off high marks until dropping back to a mark of 96 and scoring here at Goodwood again over 2 miles.

Again the assessor has taken a grip but off the back of some lacklustre runs this campaign his rating has fallen to a very exploitable looking 94. A return to a course he's clearly effective at on a dangerous handicap mark, the Johnstone inmate can have a say in the finish at a big price.

The lethal combination of Tom Marquand and William Haggas team up with Lillie Langtry favourite Sea La Rosa. The daughter of Sea The Stars failed to get off the mark as a juvenile but made up for it last year.

Winning a novice over 12 furlongs on her seasonal comeback, she then moved into handicap company with some mixed success. winning 2 of her 4 outings in handicaps, she gain a rating of 93 and moved up to group level.

Unable to really play a major role in a group 3 over 12 furlongs, she dropped to listed level and went up in trip. The longer distance bringing out plenty of improvement she bolted up at Lingfield without breaking sweat.

She's returned as a fine looking four year old this year and scored a group 3 on her seasonal comeback over 12 furlongs. Last seen in a group 2 over a mile and a half, she looked a little one paced in the finish and couldn't go with Free Wind. Moving up in trip looks like it'll really suit and she still has plenty of scope for improvement.

Four year old Method takes his chances here for Freddie and Martyn Meade despite not being in the hottest of form this year.

After bursting onto the scene as an impressive looking juvenile, Method scored on debut with bundles in hand before going on to win a listed race without much fuss. However a step up in grade saw him wanting for quality in group races off the back of a mid season break.

He's never really recaptured the form he showed as a 2 year old and hasn't won since his opening two wins. Being highly precocious like his sire Mehmas, he has been running at a high level and has not been entirely disgraced in listed and group sprints this season.

A mark of 104 might underestimate him in a handicap and he could just fulfil that promise he showed back in 2020.

The penultimate race on the card of Glorious Goodwood is a 7 furlong handicap for 3 year olds and has attracted a competitive field of 10 runners.

Positive Impact heads the early betting for Simon and Ed Crisford off the back of a narrow defeat in the Bet365 Mile during the July Festival at Newmarket.

Gelded before starting his life racing, his first three outings over a mile failed to yield a win for the son of Shamardal but he ran well in defeat in each run. Finishing in the money each time, he finally got his head in front at the fourth attempt when dropped to 7 furlongs in a 2 runner event. Sent off at 1/66 it's no surprise to see he won by a massive 21 lengths.

Moved into handicap company off the back of that, he was only narrowly denied by Jimi Hendrix next time out and has gone up 4lbs off the back of that.

Clearly improving still, the drop in trip looks like it'll suit him and his rating of 91 looks lenient enough to exploit here.

The first televised race at Newmarket on ITV is a fillies' nursery handicap. A notoriously difficult type of race to navigate, current favourite Fox Degree looks to have plenty going for her here.

It's taken the daughter of Invincible Spirit a few attempts to really find her feet racing but she's recently found form in handicap ranks. After failing to really show much on her first outing over 5 furlongs at Bath, she ran to a similar below par level over 6 furlongs in a maiden to fill the 3rd place spot again.

She shaped slightly better in her next outing at Nottingham over the minimum trip but looked outpaced in the closing stages. She finally got her head in front for the first time when switched to handicap company last time out and easily defied a mark of 69 with bundles in hand. She lines up here off a mark of 75 but moving up in trip will likely draw out yet more improvement and she's a filly very much going in the right direction.

A 12 furlong listed race for fillies and mares is the other contest featured by ITV Saturday and it sees a strong mix of older more established types against some young, up and coming unexposed fillies.

Elegant Verse catches the eye here for John and Thady Gosden with Frankie Dettori back in the plate to do the steering. This 3 year old has only had three career outings to date, making her racing debut back in April of this year over 10 furlongs at Newmarket. Not particularly fancied in the betting for her first run, she ran a stormer to be a valiant 2nd behind Voodoo Queen. That rival has since boosted the form by easily winning a handicap since.

The daughter of Frankel then got off the mark over 10 furlongs at Redcar in a promising performance. Staying on powerfully late on and Rob Havlin not having to get too serious with her to see her take the lead. Off the back of that success she found herself upped to listed company but she failed to really make a mark in deeper waters.

Despite travelling well she looked one pace as the field got racing for home. Moving up in trip here should unlock some further improvement and there's plenty more to come from this highly unexposed filly for top connections.