Key events
Thirsk 2.08, Summer Cup Handicap, 7f 218yd
Off to Thirsk, albeit briefly, for the next race on the TV card, over the one-mile course. This is a relatively even-handed course in terms of the draw, but it never hurts to be within striking distance of the pace and the speedy Dain Ma Nut In looks sure to lead from stall one.
I fancy Mr Swivell to track him from the adjacent stall and pick him off a furlong out, but there are several rivals that could easily do the same, most obviously Mirsky, the Thirsk Hunt Cup winner over track and trip in May, and Ed Walker’s Jeddaal.
Selection: Mr Swivell.
Valedictory’s run petered out quite tamely as Ryan Moore delivered Hopewell Rock with the decisive challenge there. He was held up well off the pace in the early stages and Moore worked his way through the field masterfully as a few rivals struggled for running room.
George Boughey, the winner’s trainer, is chatting to Rishi Persad:
He can probably step up into stakes company and hopefully become a Cup horse at some point.
Goodwood 1.50 RESULT: ROCK PROVES THE SOLID OPTION
1. HOPEWELL ROCK 5-1, 2. Small Fry, 3. Aeronautic.
Rounding the top bend, Sing Us A Song still leads, Valedictory off the pace but moving out to challenge … Hopewell Rock on the move too … Valedictory beaten as Hopewell Rock goes on inside the final furlong, here comes Small Fry with the final challenge … he won’t get there, Hopewell Rock wins
Off and running in the 1.50 Goodwood …
Sing Us A Song works his way to the head of affairs, Small Fry close behind with Aeronautic fourth, Valedictory biding his time …
They are on the way to post – indeed, at the post, for the first here at Goodwood, Valedictory is the 11-4 favourite with Aeronautic at 3-1 and Sing Us A Song next in at 5-1.
1.33 NEWMARKET: SYMPHONY’S SWEET MUSIC FOR LOUGHNANE
1. ROMANTIC SYMPHONY 5-4, 2. Francophone, 3. Revoir. 8 ran.
Four out, still Orionis but now Romantic Symphony on the move …
Orionis drops away, Loughane into the lead on ROmantic Symphony, she’s a little unbalanced a furlong out but strides on well in the closing stages to win ..
Off and running in the 1.33 Newmarket, Orionis leads early with Romantic Symphony and Revoir going well …
They are at the post for the opener at Newmarket, Romantic Symphony remains a warm favourite at 5-4 with Orionis next in at 9-2 and Revoir on the drift out to 7-1.
Goodwood 2.25, Glorious Stakes, Group Three, 1m 3f 218yd
Group Threes are the bottom run of the Group-race hierarchy but Rebel’s Romance, who went on to become one of the biggest-ever money earners from a European stable with a series of top-level wins, was successful in 2022, while the excellent William Haggas yard also seems to target the race, having won four of the last six.
Haggas is well represented again this year with the top two in the betting: Al Aasy, who is going for a hat-trick of wins; and Opportunity, a convincing winner of the Duke Of Edinburgh Handicap at Royal Ascot last time out.
There has been plenty of money today too for Gavin Cromwell’s In My Teens, in the green-and-gold colours of legendary punter JP McManus, and while his punting exploits are more famous in the National Hunt field, he won a competitive handicap at the Curragh last time and is clearly thought capable of making the step up in grade.
Selection: Opportunity
Goodwood 1.50, Summer Handicap, 1m 6f
A stayers’ handicap to kick off the card down in Sussex and it is a race that has been won by some top-class horses on their way through the ranks in recent years. Trawlerman, the 2025 Ascot Gold Cup winner and runner-up behind Scandinavia in Tuesday’s Goodwood Cup, was successful in 2022 and another useful type from the John Gosden yard, Sweet William, took the spoils a year later.
The interesting runner in today’s field from that perspective is Valedictory, the favourite, who has a similar profile to Trawlerman at a similar stage of his career: a four-year-old gelding from the Gosden yard in the royal blue colours of Godolphin. Aeronautic, from Joseph O’Brien’s stable in Ireland, is popular in the betting too and the trainer has been on the board here already this week, while Sing Us A Song remains unexposed at staying trips and would not need to find much to figure after a solid run into fifth place in a Royal Ascot handicap last time.
Selection: Sing Us A Song
Newmarket 1.33, Chalice Stakes, Listed, 1m 4f
A relatively minor event for female horses that is open to all ages from three-year-olds up, but the older horses have had a very thin time of it in recent years with just a single four-year-old winner – Divina Grace in 2024 – in the last seven runnings. That’s quite a stark statistic given the overall representation of the Classic generation, and Charlie Appleby’s Romantic Symphony is a warm favourite to extend the sequence. She brings a high-class pedigree to the table – she is a sister to a three-time Group One-winning filly in Wild Illusion and also to Yibir, the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner – and while she was below-par in the Lingfield Oaks Trial in May, her run into second in a Listed race at Longchamp last time was a major step forward. Ralph Beckett’s Revoir, who has a few pounds in hand of Romantic Symphony on the bare ratings, is the likeliest contender from the older ranks, but the Godolphin runner, with man-of-the-moment Billy Loughnane in the saddle, looks by far the likeliest winner.
Selection: Romantic Symphony.
Preamble
Welcome to Sussex for the final day of Glorious Goodwood 2026, and it’s an afternoon when it’s all about the betting as a 28-strong field goes to post for the Stewards’ Cup at 3.35.
This is one of the most historic and coveted handicaps in the Flat racing calendar, first staged as a six-furlong sprint in 1840 – just a year after the first Grand National over jumps – and, like the famous Aintree steeplechase, very much conceived as a spectacle for betting purposes, with big fields and winners at odds that punters don’t forget in a hurry.
I can tell you, for instance, what I was doing on the last Tuesday in July 1987. I was at Goodwood – my first time at the track, in fact – when Madraco won the Stewards’ Cup at 50-1. I did not have a penny on him, but I can also still recall that he paid something around 250-1 on the Tote, and I’ve been hooked on the annual search for a Stewards’ Cup winner ever since.
My pick for this year’s race – Far Above Dream – won’t set off at anything like those odds, and he’s currently the favourite at 7-1, but there are runners with a squeak on their best form on offer at prices up to 50-1 or even bigger.
The Stewards’ Cup is the undoubted highlight on the card but the supporting races include the Glorious Stakes at 2.25, where the quirky-but-talented Al Aasy is going for a hat-trick – and the Group Two Lillie Langtry Stakes for fillies and mares at 3.00, where last year’s 1-2, Waardah and Danielle – are likely to fight out the finish again.
The card here at Goodwood is underway at 1.50 with a competitive stayers’ handicap, but the ITV cameras will be making a brief early stop at Newmarket’s July course for the Chalice Stakes at 1.33 and another quick flit to Thirsk for the Summer Cup Handicap at 2.08.
Picks for the ITV races are here, and we’ll be off and running for the televised card in just under an hour.
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