If the racecard said Richard Hughes was riding a rocking horse in the next race at Goodwood I would still consider backing it, such is the jockey’s mastery of the West Sussex track.
Hughes has just won another top jockey award at Glorious Goodwood in 2013, recording eight wins over the five days of the festival.
He nominated Toronado’s victory over Dawn Approach in the Qipco Sussex Stakes as the highlight, not just of the week, but of his entire career. But his ride aboard Pether’s Moon (4/1) in the RAC Handicap on Saturday displayed both his horsemanship and track craft at their best.
Pether’s Moon was quite keen in the early part of the race and would never have won if Hughes had allowed the colt to continue pulling over the 1m 4f trip. Instead, he dropped him towards the back of the field as the Mark Johnston duo of Salutation (2nd at 16/1) and Royal Skies (6th at 5/1) set a good pace at the front.
The leaders had gone for home very early in the straight and could not maintain the pace. Hughes began winding Pether’s Moon up for his effort just over two furlongs out and, as the early leaders tired, he hit the front in the final furlong. The winning margin was a comfortable one and a quarter lengths.
Hughes’ knowledge of the Goodwood circuit was thrown into sharp relief by Seamie Heffernan in the Group 1 Markel Insurance Nassau Stakes, who seemed almost to take to wrong course altogether when the track split in two. Watching the Channel 4 virtual reality run of the track beforehand, it did strike me that there was the possibility of confusion at that point in the course. But I assumed jockeys in a Group 1 would know which way they were planning to go.
Winsili (20/1), trained by John Gosden and ridden by William Buick, took the contest ahead of Thistle Bird (33/1) and Hot Snap (5/1). Gosden also trained the winner last year in The Fugue. The result means that Prince Khalid Abdullah has won four of the last five runnings of the Nassau, with Midday’s three wins.
Rex Imperator (12/1) was an impressive winner of the Stewards’ Cup. It is usually a very competitive handicap but William Haggas’ four-year-old was more than two lengths clear of his rivals at the line.
