Soft ground horses will undoubtedly come to fore at Goowood today and as a punter you certainly wouldn't want to be taking a chance on a horse unproven on the soft today. Stick to what you know is the order of the day and I'm going for the forecast in the first as I'm keen on both PERFUSE and ROYAL RHYME. The former is the well backed favourite in the race and everyone would have had him in their notebooks after his eye catching run at Ascot. He travelled smoothly over 1m 4f before fading late after paying the price for following what was a strong pace. Back down in trip on soft ground. which he has won on before, he looks an obvious selection. At a bigger price though, the latter might be overlooked due to a ‘egg' next to his name last time out. He still ran better than the result suggests as the London Gold Cup was a muddling race. The form is working out and the switch back to soft conditions which he relished at Newmarket should suit well. He is no 14/1 shot that is for sure.
I'm sticking with my girl NASHWA in the Nassau stakes and hoping that her experience counts for a lot. The 3 year old French filly looks smart for sure but this will be the first time she has travelled and also the first time she takes on her elders so there seem to be plenty of risks attached with her despite her being odds on. At 9/4 the proven Nashwa looks a much better bet and although you could argue she looked so good over a mile last time should she be stepping back up in trip but she did win the race last year and has plenty of top class form over 1m 2f so that doesn't worry me. Connections report her to be in tip top form so I'm keen to stand by her.
In the Galway Hurdle I think FILEY BAY looks a solid option and would be a deserving winner of the race after two good runs in big handicaps. Some of the younger ones at the top of the market are lacking to the experience of the hustle and bustle that a red hot, fastly run handicap hurdle like this requires. It is no surprise the last ‘x' amount of winners were all experienced horses and I think Filey Bay fits that bracket quite nicely. It would be amazing to see Tudor City win this for a third time and I wouldn't be writing him off at 16/1 as he is back somewhere near his winning mark from last year.
Goodwood 1.50 – Perfuse / Royal Rhyme
Goodwood 3.35 – Nashwa
Galway 5.05 – Filey Bay
