Login
WATCH FREE
Richard Hannon: my top team for the 2026 Qatar Goodwood Festival
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Thu 23 Jul 2026
Richard Hannon is set to send a powerful team to this year's Qatar Goodwood Festival and outlines plans for his squad plus also previews Saturday's King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Hannon was speaking to BOYLE Sports to share his views.
My Glorious Goodwood team
I'll be running as many as I can!
It’s early days and I’ll have a clearer idea later. But Haatem will run and is as close to a banker that we have got. He runs in the Bentinck Conditions Stakes. He’s been put aside for that.He ran very well at Ascot, just didn't get any daylight the whole way down, which is a shame. But he's in great form and he has won the Group 2 Vintage Stakes. I've got a runner in that this year called Cut a Dash, owned by Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia’s Denford Stud.
He was fourth in the Coventry Stakes and not beaten far. He has a huge chance. I'm going to enter him in the Richmond as well. Persian Spring might also go in that direction.
In the Molecomb Stakes, I’ve got Pershaada, the filly that was third in the Queen Mary.
She's also going to be entered in the Alice Keppel but will probably run in the Molecomb. The Alice Keppel is a newish race over 5f for two year old fillies.
Hopefully we’ll also have some nice horses for the maidens and the nurseries.
An Outlaw’s Grace should go in the 0-85 6f handicap race.
I've got a nice horse called Pearl River owned by Lord Carnarvon. He goes in the Coral Handicap Stakes over 11 furlongs for horses rated 0-90.
In the Golden Mile I've got Bunyola Boy, who didn’t get the Irish Derby trip but won the Gowran Park Classic; St Anton, who has got better all year, Christian David, Classic and Law Court who could be my NB at the meeting. He belongs to Al Shaqab Racing.
St Anton bombed out in the Britannia Stakes but has come back and won a very good race at Newmarket since.
There’s a nice two-year-old called Noble Traveller who could well run at Goodwood but might also go to Deauville, and then Aramram who will go in the Stewards’ Cup.
In the Oak Tree Stakes, I have a good filly called Orion's Belt, who hasn't run since last year. She was beaten half a length at Salisbury on soft ground.
I won’t have anything in the Sussex Stakes, the Nassau Stakes, the Goodwood Cup, the Lennox, or the Lilly Langtry.
Races at Goodwood are as good as Ascot now
It's huge, it's the main part of the year before the ground starts changing.
Races at Goodwood are as good as Ascot now. There's no point going there if you think you have a little chance. You’ll have no chance!
This time of year, we’re probably seeing four very good two-year-olds a week emerge.
So, Goodwood is really the last meeting before you start to get to Dewhurst and Cheveley Park territory.Winners down there are as important as at any festival meeting.
Every year Goodwood gains in popularity
Every year it gains more in popularity. And it's not just down to the prize money which is amazing.Backed by Qatar, they've done such a good job there. But the quality of the racing is fantastic, and the venue is so much more intimate.
It has a bit for everybody in there. They have maidens, nurseries; it is very much there for every owner: a lot of 0-90s, rather than them all being 0 to 110. So, you give someone a chance.
We have a lot of owners that target Goodwood just because it's such a lovely place to be, a lovely place to have runners. You can walk around everywhere. It's all in quite a small area. It's nowhere near the size of Ascot.
It's also all the bits that go on around the periphery of it. The Duke of Richmond has done an amazing job. He is genuinely there the whole time, every day.
He's a personable and extremely pleasant man. He’s a huge asset to it; whether he owns horses or not, I don't think it makes any difference. I'll get him one day to own a horse with me. I've told him that!
Join Racing TV for FREE!
You can't look past Calandagan for the King George
I have never had a runner in it. You cannot look beyond Calandagan, who won last year. To win from where he did in the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud was an extremely good performance. You take that one blip of the Coronation Cup out, and he is pretty much unbeatable. I cannot see a horse good enough to beat him.
The Japanese don’t tend to win here. But Calandagan has gone there and won. And it takes an extremely good horse to do that. And that might have had a bit of an impact on him early on in the year. But the way he won the other day and where he came from, was very impressive. And if he's back to 95% of what he was last year, he'll win.
£2m prize money is good for racing - I just wish some of it was injected elsewhere
It’s good for racing. But I just wish those races, which are stallion making races when you win them, were not just about the prize money.
I think they'd be better off taking say £700,000 out of it and have 10, £70,000 maidens to feed through to the bottom of the sport. That feeds a bigger cross section of the owner population.
Races like the King's George are important. And they say they have to put it up to attract international competition.
I'm not going to say we don't want them, but it is the same colours turning up every year in these races. The best horses deserve that prize money, but I just wish some of it was injected elsewhere.
The King George is the best race of the summer because the horses have history
There has got to be more than a Derby winner, effectively. If I look back to when I first started getting into racing, I will never ever forget races like that between Nashwan and Cacoethes in 1989 which I watched from the top of the old stand.
And then I watched Old Vic being beaten on the line by Belmez. These races just stick out in the memory. They are truly great horses.
The English Derby is a great race, but the horses don't have any history when they're at the Derby stage. Whereas in the King George, you can have Derby and Oaks winners, previous Arc winners, Coronation Cup winners, all sorts.
So, it really is the best race of the summer.
Related posts
Glorious Goodwood tips: Alex Scott's five best bets
Redknapp and Skelton teaming up for the first time with exciting new recruit
Monday Galway tips: Johnny Ward likes a 25-1 shot on Day One
2026 Galway Festival tips: Donn McClean's five best bets
Constitution River on course for huge Ombudsman clash
Featured offers
Bet £10 Get £40 in Free Bets + MB as a Free Bet if 2nd to SP Fav- Galway and Goodwood with BOYLE Sports
T&Cs Apply
Claim Now
Bet £10 get £30 in Free Bets with TalkSportBet
T&Cs Apply
Claim Now
Get a £50 free bet when you bet £50 with Coral
T&Cs Apply
Claim Now
Bet £10 get £40 in free bets with Kwiff
T&Cs Apply
Claim Now
Bet £10 get £30 in Free Bets with BallyBet
T&Cs Apply
Claim Now
Copyright 2026 Racing TV - All Rights Reserved.
Please bet responsibly
Copyright 2026. All rights reserved