Kieren Fallon Glorious Goodwood Preview

FIVE fantastic days at Glorious Goodwood start on Tuesday and one of the stars of the Flat is in the action as Stradivarius goes for the Goodwood Cup.

Stradivarius is the one people are most looking forward to seeing but there are plenty of other talented horses in action. Hopefully we can find a winner or two among them.

1.50 Glorious Goodwood – Mountain Hunter

One of my favourite horses in training, Mountain Hunter, goes in the first at the meeting. My son little Cieren rides him and takes off 5lb, which is going to be really valuable in a race like this. He needed the run first time at Ascot having been off since Dubai, but he’s training really well and looks a million dollars. He was an impressive winner at the course a couple of years ago and he’s really tough too. At the price he is, I think he’s got a great each-way chance.

2.25 Glorious Goodwood – Pinatubo

Lope Y Fernandez is the one the Ballydoyle lads are most looking forward to for the whole week at Goodwood, but I can’t see how he’s going to turn the form around with Pinatubo. He beat Lope Y Fernandez fair and square in the Chesham at Royal Ascot, and while Aidan O’Brien is brilliant at getting his horses to improve I don’t think it will be in this race. He was a convincing winner at Ascot and I think he will come out on top again.

3.00 Glorious Goodwood – Zaaki

Trainer Sir Michael Stoute has his horses in top order at the moment and Zaaki is among those running very well. It took a really good one to beat him at Ascot last time and he looks to have the strongest form in the race to me. The one downside to his chances are that he’s got a bad draw in stall ten, so it’s worth giving Sir Dancealot a chance as well. He loves the course and is drawn much better in stall two. It should be a really good race.

3.35 Glorious Goodwood – Stradivarius

He’s a brilliant racehorse. He’s answered every question that has been asked of him and what’s more he only ever does enough, so it’s hard to know exactly how good he could be. I can’t see how he’s going to be beaten in this race. Like any athlete once your confidence is up you feel unbeatable and it’s the same with horses, the good ones know they’re good. He loves the course, has won the race twice before and Frankie Dettori is riding with so much confidence. He ticks all the boxes and I’m really looking forward to seeing him in action again.

Good luck, Kieren