Goodwood? Good Luck!

Good luck to anyone having a bet at Goodwood this afternoon.  The Sussex track plays host to the annual cavalry charge that is the Stewards' Cup Handicap.  Although there is a race with only seven runners (featuring the top class Midday and Snow Fairy), the next smallest field contains no less than fourteen participants, while the remainder of the meeting has at least sixteen runners in each contest - it certainly looks like a tricky task to find the winners.

Talking of finding winners at Goodwood, there is an interesting piece about one of the course bookmakers in today's Post.  Lucy Hazell is a pretty blonde nineteen year old, who is the youngest female racecourse bookmaker in Britain - I certainly don't remember any bookies like her back in my day!  I was quite amused to see her mocking the men who placed £1 each way bets on even money favourite Harbour Watch yesterday, claiming them to be for their wives.  Anyway, Lucy says that the family business is just ahead on the week, and judging by the size of the fields today, there is every chance they are going to end up even better off come the last race today!

*****

There is an excellent piece by Tony Morris about the 1985 triple crown winner Oh So Sharp in today's paper.  The wonder filly was trained by Henry Cecil and was the last horse to complete the notable milestone and is likely to remain so, as the St Leger continues to lose it's prestige among breeders.  She was brilliantly ridden by Steve Cauthen to snatch the 1,000 Guineas in the final strides, run away with the Oaks, and then land the Leger despite clearly being past her best at the end of a long season.  Incidentally, Cauthen was also the last man to win the triple crown in America aboard Affirmed in 1978 - an incredible achievement to complete on two different continents.

*****

Our solitary runner, Surfboard performed with credit at Bangor yesterday aftenoon to finish a close third under Conor O'Farrell - he was still in with a squeak when making a mistake at the final hurdle.  This was a decent enough performance and if he can build on this, there could be a race to be won with him before too long.