RaceiQ hints and tips for day four of Glorious Goodwood

The speed merchants take centre stage at Goodwood on Friday in the King George Qatar Stakes. This is usually one of the fastest five-furlong races of the year but the torrential rain which fell at the track on Thursday will put a different spin on things.

Dazzling four-time winner of the race Battaash is the course record holder, winning the 2020 renewal in 55.62sec, and that time is not going to come under threat with conditions having eased considerably. By way of comparison, he won in 58.51sec when the ground was soft in 2017.

Several horses in the field, including the well-fancied pair of Frost At Dawn and She’s Quality, have shown a penchant for quick ground, while we simply do not know what Big Mojo will make of testing going because the July Cup runner-up has never raced on anything slower than “good”. If he does handle it, then he seems sure to put up a bold show as outlined by RaceiQ’s Page Fuller in her column.

One runner proven on a range of ground – and bred to cope with the mud - is TIME FOR SANDALS and her RaceiQ data also makes for positive reading. Chalked up at about 6-1, she rates a solid each-way wager.

The Harry Eustace-trained filly was having only her sixth start when winning the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last month when, typically, she was strong at the finish. Nothing was quicker than her over the final two furlongs – she was the only runner to dip under 24 seconds, clocking 23.76sec – and those numbers warrant an upgrade because she streaked clear on her part of the track, having nothing to race with.

She’s got a 5lb penalty to carry for that success and will have to cope with a drop in trip, but that need not stop her, especially with conditions likely to put the emphasis more on stamina.

It took her just 1.97mph to hit 20mph at Ascot, which suggests she will get away on terms, and she is simply a more complete model than when a fast-finishing third in the Super Sprint at Newbury last year, the only previous time she has run over the minimum trip.

On that occasion she was slowest of all the 19 runners through the first furlong, when not helped by being drawn on the flank in stall 1, and that left her with an unequal struggle. She followed that with the quickest furlong of the race (10.26sec) and then was a whisker away from being swiftest in the third furlong, before also being quickest in the each of the last two furlongs.

Had she got off to a better start, or perhaps been drawn in the pack, then she would surely have won in tidy style and doubts about her effectiveness over shorter would be diminished.

Her penalty clearly will not help, but she’s earned it and the Commonwealth Cup form has a glow. The second and fourth have since won pattern races, while the fifth and seventh (Big Mojo) have since gone close in Group One company.

Australian challenger Asfoora does not know how to run a bad race and is a short-priced favourite to go one better than in last year’s renewal when she kept on well to lose out by a short head to Big Evs.

The RaceiQ metrics tell us she was typically fast from the stalls and after being sixth fastest in the first furlong, she rattled off three successive furlongs of 10.51sec or less before also recording the quickest final furlong of the ten runners. Given she was burdened by a 5lb penalty, it was a cracking effort.

Asfoora has no penalty to carry this time but, on the minus side, she’s not going to be getting any quicker at the age of 7 and her finishing effort in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot last time, when equipped with first-time blinkers, was a little disappointing. The data relays that eight of her rivals finished stronger and two of those, Regional (finished third) and Kerdos (fifth), have not exactly boosted the form with their subsequent efforts. 

The big betting race of the day will be the Coral Golden Mile, for which a maximum field of 20 has been declared. 

Fifth Column has sneaked in at the foot of the weights courtesy of picking up a 3lb penalty for a win at Newmarket last time and he stands out from the crowd, being a progressive three-year-old whose data hints that he has bigger performances in him. 

He pounced from off the pace for his latest victory at Headquarters, zipping from sixth to the first in the penultimate furlong courtesy of an 11.39sec furlong, which he followed with another fast one. 

The Kingman gelding had won the Esher Cup on softish going at Sandown in similar fashion in late April, when his penultimate furlong of 11.75sec – easily the quickest of the race – enabled him to stamp his authority. He won at the main expense of Seraph Gabriel, who was subsequently runner-up in the Golden Gates Handicap at Royal Ascot. 

Fifth Column also ran at Royal Meeting, where his seventh of 30 in the Britannia masked the fact that he was first home down the centre of the track in a race which unfolded down the stands’ side. He probably also paid a price for going fast in furlongs three and four that day, which swept him from 23rd to eighth. Consequently, his usual strong finish was missing (ten others were quicker than him in the final furlong). 

RaceiQ’s draw bias data indicates he is favourably drawn in stall 7 and he’s 2lb well-in at the weights against much more exposed opposition. In addition, several of her siblings have proven themselves in the mud. 

The Finishing Speed Percentages of Arisaig made her of interest, too, including at Goodwood, but she’s unproven away from faster ground. Lattam will relish underfoot conditions but he’s been a tease since his last win more than two years ago, with none of his past seven Finishing Speed Percentages being higher than 98%.