Of the five entries we’d hoped to run in this valuable sales race, only two have made the final field, which shows how hard it is to get a run when there is so much prize money up for grabs, I understand that, you really have to run if you get the opportunity, and that’s what we’ve seen here.
Aidan O’Brien has declared his Group 1 winner, Sun Goddess, and given the penalty structure for this race, she has the look of being a bit of a penalty kick here. Although she’s won a Group 1, she only gets penalised as a Group 3 winner would, and I do think this issue of the weights structure for this race is something York and the sponsors, Goffs, should take a look at.
So I do think Sun Goddess will take a world of beating, these races weren’t really introduced for the big battalions to go and win a big prize pot, they are more about smaller owners having a crack at big money, but of course, connections are fully entitled to run her.
Of my two that have got in, Weekend Roar would be helped by any rain that falls. He’s crying out for seven furlongs, but since he won at Newmarket two runs ago we made the plan with the owners to chase the prize money, and he ran well in a valuable race at Naas last time, finishing fourth. He was tough at Newmarket, and I hope he can run well again here, but I think his real winning chance will be in the 6 ½ furlongs sales race at Doncaster next month.
Glorious Game is another who is crying out for seven furlongs, but her owners live in America, and this has been the target all year. She’s a Listed winner, albeit that was a dead-heat, and we’ve known since then she needed further, but I see no reason why she can’t run well here, and she is the pick of Oisin Murphy.
