Goodwood - 3rd Aug

Well, Mr Dettori did me again today. He had Colour Vision too far back and so when his move was made he had to use too much energy just to get in touch.

Onto Friday's bets and in the first race we have a Group 3 over a mile and a half. It's a race with a great punting shape as the favourite, Gatewood, is a horse who is stepping up from handicaps. He's won all of them well but the gap between the races he's won and Group contests is hardest to bridge at the 10/12f trip. Quest for Peace owns the single best piece of form on offer when winning the Cumberland Lodge at Ascot last year and he ran really well in the Jockey Club stakes first time out. He's not been in the same form the last two times he's run but he was stepping up in class both times and this level is where he has scored in the past. I like Dubai Prince as well. He's a fragile creature but has a bit of class about him and at 11/2 I think he's a touch of value for the race also. He beat a good yardstick in Fury last time out in an admittedly muddling race and I think his chance in the race is the equal of the other Godolphin animal Songcraft, who seems to be two points shorter because Dettori may have chosen him. That doesn't bother me as he always seems to ride the Suroor representative when both he and Al Zarooni (Dubai Princes's trainer) have runners in the same race.

The Betfred Mile was going to contain my main bet of the meeting as I was very keen on Bronze Angel but unfortunately that 3yo didn't make the cut. I'm not happy about this as in terms of actual ratings he would have made it but they take the weight-for-age off when assessing the weights. This means a good class 3yo who ran a cracker in a huge handicap at the Royal meeting doesn't get in whilst out of form plodders who take an age to slide down the handicap (I'm looking at horse's like Mabait here) do. Anyway, this race has a huge draw bias and the favourite has already been pulled out because of his high drawer (trainer may have given a different reason) and I have backed Captain Bertie who has been given the 6 stall. I had him in the Hunt Cup where a searching gallop over a stiff mile may have been too much but he ran well in the Bunbury Cup next time out over 7f and this easy mile coupled with a good draw means he's well worth a go at 11/1.
I'm running bad at the moment so stakes have been dropped slightly.

Glorious Stakes:
Quest for Peace £50w @ 58/10 (won)
Dubai Prince £40w @ 56/10 (lost)

Betfred Mile:
Bronze Angel £25w @ 168/10 (Money back as horse was balloted out)
Captain Bertie £40w @ 11/1 (lost)


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