Global Giant
Greetings from Goodwood! I am here enjoying another day’s racing on the downs, where there has been no shortage of excitement and drama on and off the track. The racing has been as thrilling as ever, but yesterday was blighted from a personal point of view by the withdrawal of Fabulous Red. There are many circumstances which can lead to a horse’s withdrawal, but horse box fire is one of the more unusual! Thankfully there were no human injuries as a result of the incident and it appears as though Fabulous Red has got away relatively unscathed. However, given the smoke she must have inhaled she was of course withdrawn from yesterday’s race and will wait for another day.
Today I rely on two runners at Goodwood, kicking off with Global Giant in the 1.50, a valuable mile and a quarter three-year-old handicap. This horse has always shown a good deal of talent, winning a Newmarket maiden on his second start at two, and proving himself in a higher grade when fifth in the Gr.3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot. He was then hopelessly tailed off in the Gr.3 Bahrain Trophy, but given that was over a mile and five furlongs, we can probably excuse him as a non-stayer. We have been dropped two pounds to 99, so are back in handicap-company this afternoon. It will be a warm handicap of course, but hopefully this is his grade and hopefully this is his trip. Gerald Mosse rides and we hope for the best, but the form of our runners in recent days is a major cause for concern.
For Reddiac in the nursery at 4.10, the chief concern is the draw. We have been given stall 19 of 19, so are immediately up against it. He could be a well-handicapped horse, as he was a close-up third to the Gr.2 Vintage Stakes winner Dark Vision at Yarmouth and yet is only rated 71. Given that Dark Vision is probably worthy of a mark around 110, we must consider Reddiac has some handicapping potential. However, the step up in trip is something of an unknown and his last run at Windsor was very disappointing. Josephine Gordon has the unenviable task of trying to win from the wide draw.
Our other runner today is Dubai Frame in the 5.25 at Nottingham. This horse has looked in need of a step up to two miles and today that is exactly what he gets. The Warren Greatrex-trained Bailarico is on a roll and Sir Mark’s Praeceps is a last time out winner with more to give, so we are not going with great expectations. However, this is the right trip, track and race, so hopefully we will see something positive from a horse that should not be too badly handicapped on 62. Ben Curtis takes the mount.
All the best,
Ed.