Glorious Goodwood opens exactly one week from today — Tuesday July 28 at Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex. Five days, around 35 races, multiple Group 1s and one of the most famous handicap sprint fields of the year. Here is the day-by-day guide to the races that matter most.
Tuesday July 28 — Sussex Stakes and Richmond Stakes
The Sussex Stakes is the festival's headline Group 1 — a mile championship that brings together the best milers from the Classic generation and older horses. Bow Echo, the unbeaten Royal Ascot St James's Palace winner who was HRO's NAP of NAPs for the meeting, is the most anticipated entrant. The race represents his first start since Ascot and his first test at Goodwood's undulating track.
The Richmond Stakes Group 2 for two-year-olds opens the juvenile programme — a six-furlong race that produces some of the most discussed sprint juvenile form of the summer.
Wednesday July 29 — Vintage Stakes and Molecomb Stakes
The Vintage Stakes Group 2 for two-year-old colts is one of the most informative juvenile races of the festival. Winners of the Vintage regularly progress into Classic contenders the following season. The Molecomb Stakes for two-year-old sprinters provides the first look at the fastest juveniles over minimum distances.
Thursday July 30 — Gold Cup and Nassau Stakes
Two Group 1s on the same afternoon. The Goodwood Cup over two miles is the staying championship of the festival — a race for the best long-distance horses in training, many of whom ran in the Ascot Gold Cup in June. The Nassau Stakes for fillies and mares over a mile and a quarter attracts Classic fillies stepping up from their Guineas trip and is frequently one of the most open Group 1s of the week.
Friday July 31 — King George Stakes
The King George Stakes Group 2 for sprinters is Friday's headline race — a race that often features horses who ran in the Diamond Jubilee or July Cup earlier in the summer. The pace and form of the sprint division is well established by this point in the season, and the King George tends to reward horses who have been building quietly rather than those already at the top of their market.
Saturday August 1 — Stewards' Cup
The Stewards' Cup sprint handicap over six furlongs in a maximum field of 30 is the festival's most famous betting race and one of the biggest handicap betting events of the year. Each-way betting at prices of 10/1 or bigger, in a field paying five or six places, is the sensible structure. The draw matters significantly — checking draw statistics for Goodwood's six furlongs under similar going conditions is essential preparation.
Free Selections All Five Days
Horse Racing Oracle AI will publish a free daily NAP for every day of Glorious Goodwood — Tuesday July 28 through Saturday August 1 — at 11am each morning before the market opens.
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