WE'VE had some brilliant stories at Glorious Goodwood this week and we still have two days left on the South Downs.
Hopefully today I can get on the scoresheet with one of my three rides.
1.50pm
Pretty Baby
She was pulled out after the rain on Tuesday, but takes her chance here. She doesn’t have an easy task at all with her 3lb penalty and she comes here after a below-par run at Royal Ascot.
But presumably the soft ground was to blame there, even though she won a Group 3 on easy ground at Lingfield back in May, and the expected better surface here will suit better.
She won this race last season and has a fair form chance, but that 3lb penalty is always troublesome and a draw in 16 could be as well. She will need luck.
3.00pm
Escobar
He looks to have a fair bit going for him in this wide-open handicap. He has put three modest runs behind him from earlier in the season, and followed up his Sandown second to a well-handicapped horse in Mojito with a win for me at York last time.
He carries a 3lb penalty for that, but he is still 3lb well-in here after that has been taken into account, and hopefully he gets a better passage, from his midfield draw, than he did when finishing eighth in this race last season. He would want it to remain dry.
4:40pm
Desert Encounter
He undoubtedly can be tricky but he is very talented on his day and he looked to be on the way back when third to Communique and Mirage Dancer in the Princess Of Wales’s last time. He has run well in his only previous start here and, at his best, he is more than a match for these in a race that has cut up to just five runners.
We saw that when he beat Thundering Blue in the Canadian International last season. Last year’s winner Mirage Dancer could be tough to beat, but it wouldn’t surprise me if my horse turned the tables on him here as he looks fantastic now and, at seven, he needs a few runs to get him cherry-ripe.
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