Returning to a mile and a half will suit Kurakka at Goodwood

July 28

Alan hopes that Barbury might end July on a winning note by lifting one of the valuable prizes on offer at Glorious Goodwood this week, a meeting that is close behind Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival in the list of his favourite fixtures.

Fingers are firmly crossed for Trueshan in the Goodwood Cup on day one. Trueshan owes us nothing – he has amassed more than £2m in prize money for his enthusiastic band of owners, including victory in this race four years ago.

Betfair make him a 36-1 chance to win it again, and we need no reminding that Trueshan would become the oldest winner of this prestigious race since the legendary Persian Punch captured the prize for a second time in 2003.

Alan will be heading back to the rolling Sussex Downs on Wednesday, when we have Kurakka running in the mile and a half opener and Wisper in the EBF Fillies Handicap.

Kurakka ran a terrific race and achieved a career-best performance when finishing third at Newmarket’s July meeting, but the mile and a quarter there was short of his best and the ground was also faster than he likes.

Now he reverts to 12 furlongs and, while Alan would have liked more juice in the ground, Kurakka will definitely be better suited by this longer trip, so, while it looks a hot race, he ought to have a solid each-way chance.

Unlike Trueshan, Wisper enjoys fast ground, underfoot conditions which she encountered at Windsor when clocking up her seventh success in June.

Wisper has settled well since she joined us from Marcus Tregoning in late spring, and we can certainly put a line through her unplaced effort at Southwell last time.

The fact that Wisper finished eighth to Bowerchalke tells us everything as she had been beaten only a neck by that same horse when they crossed swords at Chelmsford in early June.

Tom Marquand had to sit and suffer on Wisper all the way up the straight at Southwell, having bobbed and weaved to find an opening without success.. Rossa Ryan, who won on the mare at Windsor, is back in the saddle at Goodwood, and in what looks a wide-open handicap she should not be written off.