3 minute read

The five-day Qatar Goodwood Festival gets underway today and Sam King returns with two selections from the Sussex Downs venue.

We head to the latter parts of the card for both selections with the initial wager coming in the penultimate Coral Fillies' Handicap at 5.05.

Previous course winner Novus has been popular in the market this morning, which is understandable, but I'm personally put off by stall fifteen.

At the prices, Espressoo looks worth siding with for a yard that does ever so well at this meeting. Drawn in stall four, this habitual front-runner should have every chance of getting to towards the fore of the field. The form of her runner-up effort in the Listed Weatherbys Digital Solutions Pipalong Stakes looks solid now dropping back to handicap company and a mark of 88 should well be within range.

Selection: Espressoo – General 12/1

Our second selection comes in the finale and Kitai may take some stopping for the same stable. The daughter of No Nay Never showed plenty of promise early on as a juvenile and was fairly highly tried since. She probably disappointed connections a touch towards the backend of her two-year-old campaign but has seemingly found her feet once more and arrives on a roll in search of a hat-trick.

She looks versatile regarding ground having won on both soft at Carlisle and good at Pontefract on her last two outings. A 7lb rise for her recent Pontefract success looks fair given how commanding that two-and-a-half length victory was, and she can complete the treble for a stable that target this contest.

Selection: Kitai – General 9/4