Westerton steps up to a mile and a half at Goodwood today

August 2at

There were plenty of smiling faces around Barbury this morning, with August having started well for the stable. Paradias ran a blinder to finish fourth in the Chesterfield Cup at Glorious Goodwood yesterday, while a few hours later Forget The Way opened his hurdling account at Warwick’s evening meeting.

Here’s hoping that we might have further reason to celebrate on day two of the biggest race meeting in Sussex, courtesy of Westerton, who steps up to a mile and a half for the first time in the Coral Handicap. He has run well on soft ground on several occasions, so there are no real worries about the going.

Westerton has been a model of consistency, finishing out of the frame only once in seven races. He shook off three consecutive seconds when, ridden by Ryan Moore for the first time, he made all to grind his rivals into submission in his maiden at Sandown.

The handicapper hit the two lengths winner hard, raising his official rating 9lb to a mark of 92, but Westerton justified the action when running a corker in a Heritage handicap at Newmarket’s July meeting. He has proved himself over a mile and a half, but he has always looked as if he could be even better over this 12 furlongs, and, with Ryan again on board, we are looking for a big run.

We also have chances over hurdles at Stratford tomorrow with Lunar Shadow, who won first time out over timber at Southwell last season but then tipped up at Stratford when looking as she would at least have been placed.

Lunar Shadow switched back to the Flat this season, winning at Lingfield and making the frame in all her other four races, two on the all-weather and only last month at Epsom. She is an interesting runner under topweight in the mares handicap hurdle.

The versatile Tritonic, whose six wins so far have been split equally between Flat and Hurdles, is also in action at the Sussex Festival, his target being the Goodwood Stakes over two and a half miles

Tritonic showed he gets this marathon trip well when finishing a highly creditable third in the Ascot Stakes at the Royal meeting, and, having enjoyed a six-week break, he now returns to Goodwood, where he won last back-end.