Son Worth A Look On Handicap Debut

What a day it was for us on Saturday. We failed to hit the target with our first three bets but I thought Julia Augusta ran with great credit in the Valiant. Rage Of Bamby got us off the mark in fine style by winning at York, advised at 20/1. However, the best was yet to come.

Goliath, our 33/1 e/w NAP, finally got the end to end gallop he craved and he absolutely demolished Auguste Rodin and co in the King George. As I hoped, he settled beautifully in behind the front runners and from at least five furlongs out you could see there was only going to be one winner.

The son of Adlerflug is now the top rated turf horse in the world at 125, all he needed was a truly run race to show how good he actually is.

Goodwood Thursday Fancy

My e/w fancy for Thursday goes in the opener at Glorious Goodwood. Son, making his handicap debut off 101, is a horse we have backed before, this season and last. He was my 20/1 e/w NAP when he ran in the Greenham in April and he was beaten just 1.5L into fourth after being backed down to 9/2. We were also on at 40s when he finished a 2.5L 5th behind Ghostwriter in the Royal Lodge last September.

Now, it must be said, that Greenham form has been let down since, including by Son. He nearly ran off the track on his next start at Sandown (8f sft) and finished stone last. On paper, his last run at Ascot (7f) in the G3 Jersey Stakes looked another poor effort but I don’t think it was quite as bad as his finishing position suggests.

Worth A Try Up In Trip

The records will show he finished 13th of 19, beaten 9L. However, he was drawn low, he took a while to settle and as the race developed, he was caught behind a wall of horses. In the end, he finished his race off rather nicely and given his pedigree, he looks well worth trying at this sort of trip.

The son of Too Darn Hot usually raced prominently previous to that Royal Ascot run. The new, more patient tactics seemed to suit him and he was just 1.5L behind Ziggy’s Dream at the finish, 3rd here in Wednesday’s Oak Tree Stakes. There’s loads of potential pace in this race and I am hoping that they go hard early and he can settle in behind the leaders in a decent position on the inner and hopefully, come with a late challenge.

Now, there is a chance that Son might need to be gelded before he shows what he is fully capable of. However, he ran well here on his only previous visit as a 2yo and I saw enough promise in his run at Ascot to justify a small e/w interest on him today on his first handicap start, especially at odds of 40/1.

1.50 Goodwood Selection: Son e/w @ 40/1 (4 places)

-DaveStevos