Jim Crowley: “I hope Maydanny can get us off to the best possible start”

Coral ambassador previews his rides at Goodwood on Tuesday

Jim rides Maydanny in the 13:50 at Goodwood

One of the biggest weeks of the year, and an important one for me at my local track, begins on Maydanny in the Chesterfield Cup.

He ran away with this race twelve month ago, I couldn’t do the weight that day but he’s 12 pounds higher in the handicap this time around so there are no worries on that score this year.

He ran a very good race to be second at Sandown last time, and while I don’t think we’d want really testing ground, soft or good to soft should be fine.

Even though he’s carrying much more weight than last year, and it’s a typically competitive race as you’d expect, I hope we can get the meeting off to the best possible start.

Jim rides Khuzaam in the 15:00 at Goodwood

Only Space Blues is rated higher than Khuzaam in this Lennox field, which tells you he’s a good horse.

His best form has come on the all-weather, and we tried him over six furlongs in the Chipchase at Newcastle last time. It was a bit of an experiment and that told us he wasn’t a six-furlong horse, so stepping back up to seven here will suit.

He’s drawn in 11, which won’t make it easy for us to go forward early, and with the Godolphin pair – Space Blues and Creative Force – and the likes of Safe Voyage in the race, it’s a proper contest for a Group 2.

If things fell right for us, I can see us having an each-way chance, but it will be a tough race for him to win.