Racing fans across the world will turn their attention to Goodwood next week, for the 2025 Glorious Goodwood Festival.
The world-famous event will stage 37 races in which elite yards will battle for supremacy in the West Sussex countryside.
Sixteen Group contests – three of which are Group One races – contribute to the five-day meeting and showcase some of the finest talent that horse racing can offer.
Although it is sponsored by Qatar and officially called the ‘Qatar Goodwood Festival’, the race meeting has become known as ‘Glorious Goodwood’.
Here is everything that you need to know about one of the highlights on the British sporting and social calendars, as the flat-season roars on into the height of summer.
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When is 2025 Glorious Goodwood?
This year’s renewal will begin on Tuesday, July 29, with an eight-race card – highlighted by the (Group One) Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes – kicking off the week.
Days two and three feature the other two Group One contests – the Qatar Sussex Stakes and the Qatar Nassau Stakes – due off at 3:00pm and 3:05pm on their respective days.
The King George Qatar Stakes is day five’s showpiece, before the festival culminates in a weekend by the running of the Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes and the William Hill Celebration Mile.
All three are Group Two races with the latter two running on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Trainers to watch
It was another fine weekend for Ballydoye, as leading Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien saw his filly Minnie Hauk complete an Oaks hat-trick at The Curragh.
Her Irish Oaks victory added to her wins in the Chester and Epsom equivalents, making her the first horse to win both the Epsom and Irish Oaks since Snowplay – also trained by O’Brien – in 2021.
Though he went without a Group One win at Royal Ascot for the first in two decades, O’Brien has enjoyed a campaign in which his horses have taken victory in feature events at numerous festivals across Britain and Ireland.
He is sure to send a host of challengers to Goodwood, as he remains top of the British Trainer Standings and in-search of his seventh British Champion Trainer title.
Following O’Brien in the standings, is joint father/son combination John and Thady Gosden.
They enjoyed Royal Ascot that saw them train three Group One winners, adding to their wins with Juddmonte-owned stable-star Field Of Gold, in the Lockinge Stakes and Irish 2000 Guineas.
However, their Prince Of Wales’s Stakes winner Ombudsman was chinned by O’Brien’s Delacroix in the Sandown Coral-Eclipse two weeks ago, denying the Gosdens another Group One victory this season.
They also boast a 20% win rate at Goodwood this season, the joint-best record matched by Richard Hannon and William Haggas.
The pair sit fifth and sixth in the Trainers Championship standings, with the Gosdens trailing O’Brien by around £300,000 in prize money, despite having trained 40 more winners this campaign.
Andrew Balding rounds off the top three in the standings, with Godolphin-retained trainer Charlie Appleby in fourth.
The former boasts a win rate of 16% this season and will arrive off the back of two weeks in which he has won York‘s John Smiths Cup and the (Group Two) Summer Mile at Newmarket‘s July meeting.
Appleby, meanwhile, trained seven Godolphin-owned winners at the July Festival, and will arrive here hoping to add to his two classic victories earlier this season.
Another trainer to watch is Charlie Johnston, who sits eighth in the trainer standings and will arrive in top-form, training 11 placed horses from 25 runners.
Jim Goldie is also worth a mention and though he is only 17th in the standings, his horses will represent a yard boasting a 24% win rate over the last 14 days, should they make the journey south.
Jockeys to watch
Ryan Moore is widely-regarded as the best jockey in Britain, riding a plethora of winners in prestigious races – mainly for O’Brien.
The pair made it 150 Group One winners together when Moore saddled Whirl to victory at The Curragh, but have since added to that number – notably in the Coral-Eclipse.
He is sure to be in the Ballydoyle-saddle once more, and will arrive at Goodwood boasting a win percentage of 32% over the last 14 days.
However, at the top of the British standings is Oisin Murphy, who has found himself at the centre of controversy after being charged with drink driving.
The Irishman is looking to retain his Champion Jockey title, winning it for the fifth time in his career and will arrive at Goodwood in red-hot form.
Of his last 17 rides, he has ridden six winners and 11 have placed, with his seasonal win percentage standing at 23% – matched by Moore and bettered by William Buick.
Buick himself will be hopeful of adding to his wins in prestigious races this season – two of which were British Classic races.
As first-choice retained rider for Godolphin, he mainly rides for Appleby but has also teamed-up with the Gosdens – riding Ombudsman to victory at Royal Ascot.
His partnership with Appleby birthed six winners at Newmarket’s July meeting, contributing to his 32% strike rate over the last two weeks.
Other jockeys that will arrive in form include Billy Loughnane and Joe Fanning.
The former is third in the Jockey standings and 17 placed horses from his last 21 rides – six of which were winners.
Fanning, meanwhile, has ridden four winners from his last 12 rides, with six placed efforts too.
Though all the aforementioned jockeys may play ‘second fiddle’ to Jason Watson, who is the current top-jockey at the course, this year.
His win rate is 30% having ridden three winners at Goodwood this campaign, though his number of winners is the same as Rossa Ryan and Kieran Shoemark.
They hold identical records totalling three winners from 14 rides, with the former sitting fourth in the jockey standings and the latter trading at a positive level-stakes-profit, at Goodwood.
How to watch Glorious Goodwood?
ITV will broadcast five races each day, live and for free, on terrestrial TV, whilst Racing TV will screen all the action for their subscribers only.
By Callum Close
