How To Bet £20 on day one of the Qatar Goodwood Festival

The feature race on day one of the Qatar Goodwood Festival is unlikely to break any betting records with Kyprios set to go off the shortest-priced favourite this century for the Al Shaqab Goodwod Cup. 

Aidan O’Brien’s outstanding stayer is 2/5 with plenty of firms, and not even four-timer winner Stradivarius or two-time scorer Yeats went off at such skinny odds. 

Kyprios stands out on form, although he eventually had to roll up his sleeves on very firm ground at Ascot last month and Aidan O’Brien did raise the possibility of him skipping Goodwood if conditions were similar. Connections have never previously raised any concerns about fast terrain. 

Those determined to have a play in the race could do worse than support SWEET WILLIAM in the “betting without Kyprios” market. BetVictor quote him at 12/5, with Sky Bet and William Hill offering 9/4. 

He’s a tricky customer who needs delivering late but he’s done very little wrong this term, including when a never nearer third in the Gold Cup last time when he had such as Coltrane and Gregory well adrift. 

Two miles around Goodwood may suit him even better and, with drying conditions no problem, he looks the obvious one to chase Kyprios home. He’s 8/1 in the win market but will surely need the favourite to fluff his lines to hit the jackpot. 

O'Brien and Ryan Moore also have the market leader for the HKJC World Pool Vintage Stakes in The Parthenon, but he was only workmanlike when landing a maiden at Gowran last time and my preference is for AN OUTLAW’S GRACE, who represents the same team who struck with Haatem 12 months ago. 

An Outlaw’s Grace justified strong market support in slick style on his debut at Salisbury and ran a fine race to be a close fourth in the Prix Robert Papin at Chantilly last time. 

The first three home in that Group Two contest, also from Britain, boasted more experience and all look above average. 

That form looks the best on offer and he should have plenty more to give stepping up to 7f. 

Kinross seeks to win the HKJC World Pool Lennox Stakes for a third time and, but for an unlucky defeat in 2022, he would be in pursuit of a fourth triumph. 

His course form is there for all to see but he surrendered tamely in the July Cup last time when worryingly easy to back. It may be the seven-year-old has lost some of his powers. 

By contrast, English Oak arrives very much on the up and will be popular after his latest emphatic win at Royal Ascot. 

However, it’s hard to forget that NOBLE DYNASTY gave him 15lb and a two-length beating in a handicap at Newmarket less than three months ago. 

They now meet on level terms and Noble Dynasty has not exactly stood still in the interim himself, subsequently landing the Group Three Criterion Stakes back at Newmarket. 

The one niggle I have is that Noble Dynasty fluffed his lines at Goodwood a couple of years ago, when he hung to his right, but I’m not convinced that was track related. If he can reproduce his best form, he will take some stopping. 

The meeting begins with a competitive 18-runner handicap over 10 furlongs but we’ve got quite a warm favourite in the shape of the lightly raced Enfijaar, who won the John Smith’s Cup in good style at York last time and seeks to follow up off a 6lb higher mark. 

He demands respect but he doesn’t wear a hood for decoration and can be keen. I doubt he would want the ground to dry out too much, either. 

At the prices, I’m happy to take him on and split my stakes on two horses trading at much chunkier odds in Dual Identity and Bystander. 

DUAL IDENTITY was only ninth in the John Smith’s Cup but that doesn’t tell half the story as he was dropped out last from a wide draw and got a horror run up straight, finishing with plenty of petrol in tank. 

In the circumstances, I thought he did well to be only five lengths behind the winner, who was never far off the gallop. 

BYSTANDER was strong at the finish when winning over ten furlongs at Newcastle last time and remains unexposed over the trip. He’s still a maiden on turf, but he’s had only three runs on the surface and shaped well over a mile at Newmarket on 2000 Guineas day. 

Finally, Lord Riddiford seeks to win the 5f Coral Racing Club Handicap for the fourth successive year and, despite being 3lb wrong at the weights, is only 1lb higher than when romping home last year. 

The nine-year-old grey looks defensively priced up by the bookmakers, though, and I’m more interested in his stablemate, Jm Jungle, who is double his price. 

JM JUNGLE also won at last year’s meeting and ran some crackers afterwards, too, with his rating rising to 93. 

He is now 4lb lower and showed a timely return to form when a keeping-on fourth in a 100,000 euro sprint at The Curragh last time. A repeat of that effort will put him bang in the mix. 

1.50: Dual Identity £2 each-way at a general 16/1 (five places) 

1.50: Bystander £1 each-way at a general 10/1 (five places) 

2.25: An Outlaw’s Grace £4 win at a general 11/2 

3.00: Noble Dynasty £3 win at 100/30 with Coral and Ladbrokes 

3.35: Sweet William £3 win in the “betting without Kyprios market” at 12/5 with Betfred 

4.10: Jm Jungle £2 each-way at 9/1 with Coral and Ladbrokes