Glorious Goodwood (15.45): Cotai can sprint to Glory

Cotai Glory posted a cracking effort on seasonal reappearance and looks the answer to a wide-open renewal of the Group 2 King George Stakes at Goodwood (15.35).

The Charlie Hills trained colt ha some top class form as a juvenile, finishing sixth to Hootenanny in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot and an excellent 1 1/4 length second to Limato in a Listed contest at Newbury.

Cotai Glory went on to make all and land the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes over course and distance at this meeting 12 months ago, and was all set to follow-up in a Group 2 affair at Doncaster when serving and unseating his rider near the finish when two lengths clear and well in command.

The son of Exceed And Excel could then only finish 16th of 18 in the Group 1 Prix de L’abbaye at Longchamp on his final start of the campaign, but that was a Group 1 contest and he faced a stiff task.

Cotai Glory was then off the track for 279 days before making his belated return to action in Listed contest at York earlier in the month and running a blinder to finish a 1/2 length third to Out Do.

The three-year-old showed all his customary dash until weakening close home, and it was an effort which suggested he was in for a good season.

Cotai Glori is sure to come on a bundle for that outing, and his trailblazing tactics could make him very hard to peg back over this flying 5f.

The aforementioned Out Do is progressing with every race and looks sure to go well, along with the class dropping Muthmir, but the biggest danger to Cotai Glory may well be Moviesta.

Moviesta won the 2013 running of this contest when trained by Bryan Smart, and also ran very well to finish third in last year’s renewal.