Goodwood Sprint Preview

Matt Rigby | Metropolitan Racing | Thu 18 August, 2011

The Goodwood looks a pretty good race this year as compared to last year when it was won by Idyllic Prince from Foxy Boy and Gondorff.

Add a little more class this year in the form of Playing God, Wolfe Dreams, Elliotto, Kasabian, Blacksmith and the up and coming All Friared Up.

Wolfe Dreams should get the front here and if not for his average first up card, I'd be giving him a good chance in this. Harvey will probably take the sit with Blacksmith, having gone up 5kg on his last run. That will leave either Kasabian or Idyllic Prince to stride forward to the breeze.

The former was an enormous effort second up, racing wide without cover and still kicking stongly at the end. He does also go up sharply in weight and won't get the easiest run outside of the leader, if he decides to go there.

Playing God is the interesting runner. His trial was ordrinary, even forgiving him for missing the start. Neville Parnham stated that he pulled up a little big from the trial, so I can't see how he has enough miles in his legs to figure strongly in this 1300m race first up. He is an outstanding animal though.

Idyllic Prince is going for four Goodwood's in a row. His two trials were excellent this time, hardly asked for an effort in either. My guess is that he will be ridden back, as he has been at his last few. He seems to be settling better than back last spring where he had a tendency to over race and stride forward. I'm predicting that this year we will see the bubble burst however by the well weighted All Friared Up.

She was amazing in beating Kid Choisir two starts back in the Beaufine, winning with a leg in the air. Last start in the Newmarket, she got a long way back on a day that didn't really suit the backmarkers and still made good ground to be beaten just over a length. With better than even pace from Wolfe Dreams, she'll be very hard to beat in this and I think she'll start the favourite.

Of the others, Elliotto has trialed ok, but doesnt have a flash first up record and Gondorff ran third in this race last year. He wasn't knocked around first up, particularly in the early part of the straight. The way he closed on them late was eye catching and he carried on with it after the post, careering away from them. At $21, Gondorff is the each way value in this race.

Tips: All Friared Up, Gondorff, Idyllic Prince