Thanks to jams on the A3 it took me nearly four hours driving from central London for the last day of Glorious Goodwood. It would have been worth it if it had taken 24. It was the day of the good guys with whom we all enjoy sharing success. Critical Moment, his impressive cruising speed complemented by a gutsy finishing kick under son Michael, provided another winner for Barry Hills, who had already saddled his 50th at the famous meeting.
Then Midday, both saucy madam and serious racehorse, triumphed again in the Nassau Stakes for Henry Cecil. Conscious of her attraction and a little bit of a professional show-stealer, she could as easily have lined up with the naughty-eyed, hip-swinging chorus girls performing in the members’ enclosure as on the track. In the race she cruised into the lead a furlong out and then slowed. As a rival stormed past, she slipped into gear again under Tom Queally, regained the lead and won going away as the ambulance men looked around nervously to see where the resuscitators were needed. That second burst of acceleration, which only the best can produce, was Midday’s way of saying, ‘Look, I can do it anyway I like.’
In beating Stacelita and Antara the filly had twice come off a true line but she survived the first-ever televised stewards’ inquiry that followed and kept the race. So she should have done. She was clearly the best in the race and her showboating didn’t deny others their chance. But it was just as well the race was in England. As the former Tote chairman Peter Jones noted watching beside me, ‘In France she would probably have lost it.’ Just as well that English interpretations prevailed. Her trainer insisted, ‘They went very slow and she had to sprint, and then she thought she had done enough.’
I sometimes meet non-racegoers who insist that the very act of racing horses represents cruelty. But horses are competitive animals and you could have no clearer demonstration than Midday’s reaction when, having almost pulled herself up, she eyeballed Stacelita coming alongside her. ‘She has so much raw ability that she rallied again,’ said her jockey. It was the same with Critical Moment. When challenged for the lead early in the straight he reacted and when Desert Myth came at him in the dying stages he found even more.
If that wasn’t enough to celebrate we had two more winners from jockey Richard Hughes, taking him to a record nine at the meeting, and beating the record previously shared by Lester Piggott, Kieron Fallon and Johnny Murtagh. Approachable and articulate, Richard is just the sort of personality racing needs. Race-riding is all about confidence and at the moment confidence is oozing out of every pore in this man’s body. Yes, he is well placed in having the pick of rides from his father-in-law Richard Hannon in an annus mirabilis for an always successful yard, but at the moment he could drive home a winner with a donkey draped across his shoulders.
Richard Hughes is famous for coming from behind in last-gasp finishes. Before the Glorious meeting the Racing Post had interviewed him on how to ride the course — stayers’ contests, mile races and sprints — and it proved to be a master-class from a real thinker in the saddle. Every young jockey should tear out the page, have it laminated and pack it with their saddle for next year’s Goodwood meetings.
Break too fast from an outside draw trying to get to the rail, says Richard, and you can use up too much horse too early in the race. In any Goodwood contest over 1m 4f or more the best place to be is in the first four, so you can get breathers into your horse. Don’t come wide in the Goodwood straight, you will cover too much ground. As for those heart-stopping swoops from behind: ‘If you are coming from off the pace you are actually better off coming from right out the back. People complain about me and Jamie Spencer sitting last but if you sit last you can see everything that’s going on. You can go left, right or straight on. If you are two lengths closer you will almost certainly be snookered.’
Last week he did it every way, including an all-the-way win on the juvenile Libranno. And the course celebrations after that record ninth victory? There weren’t any. He was off to Lingfield to ride in the 6.25. This is a jockey with the work ethic, too.
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