YOU had to me made of hardy stuff if you were on course at Goodwood on Tuesday.
Thankfully, the foul weather looks to be out of the way for the remainder of the week and we are set fair for a stunning day two.
After a quiet start to the year, Sir Mark Prescott is back with a vengeance and he can land the opener with the unexposed TIMOSHENKO (1.50 Goodwood).
This four-year-old progressed at a rate of knots last summer, rattling up a sequence of five wins that concluded with a gutsy victory in a valuable race at Musselburgh.
He beat a certain Austrian School that day; that rival is now rated 109 and has run with credit in Group company this season.
Even allowing for the marked improvement from that horse this term, Timoshenko is surely thrown in off 81, and his yard’s recent resurgence in form can only boost confidence ahead of his return.
This dour stayer goes well fresh and shapes as though he will relish this 2m4f test.
And the fact Luke Morris has wasted down to his lowest possible weight of 8st to take the ride is another hint that a big run is expected.
Later on the card, I’m hoping ZABEEL PRINCE (3.35 Goodwood) can cause a big upset in the Sussex Stakes.
Roger Varian’s six-year-old has plenty of strong form to his name and he gained a Group 1 breakthrough in France earlier this year when a cosy winner of the 1m1f Prix d’Ispahan.
He struggled when upped in trip after that, but he was contesting the strongest races around in the Princes Of Wales’s Stakes and the Coral-Eclipse.
He is not short of speed so the drop back to 1m here is well worth a crack, particularly given yesterday’s rainfall.
The three-year-old’s are feared most, but holes can be picked in each of them.
Doubts remain over Too Darn Hot’s stamina over this trip, everything fell right for Circus Maximus at Royal Ascot where the first-time blinkers worked a treat and Phoenix Of Spain has to put a tame effort in the same race behind him.
With the dead eight runners and odds of 20-1 knocking about, battle-hardened top-level performer Zabeel Prince is a cracking each-way bet.
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