Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup (Group 1)

HUGHIE Morrison’s Quickthorn provided the opening day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival with its water-cooler moment as he poached a big early lead under an inspired Tom Marquand ride before kicking on again in the straight to win the Group 1 contest without facing a single challenge, and all at the rewarding odds of 16/1.

It was a performance redolent of last season’s Lonsdale Cup at York, where Marquand and Quickthorn also built up a big lead against stayers and never looked like coming back.

Emily Dickinson (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) plugged on to grab second without threatening to lay a glove on the winner, denying Coltrane (Andrew Balding/Oisin Murphy) that position in a photo after the latter had been the one who tried in vain to bridge the gap between winner and the rest.

Struggled on soft

Favourite Courage Mon Ami seemed to struggle in the softest ground he’s encountered, and flattered only briefly.

The winner is a homebred owned by Lord and Lady Blyth, who are real enthusiasts for the sport and have won good races with this horse and the quirky Not So Sleepy in recent times, and Lady Blyth (Pamela) is quick to point out that the colours belonged to her mother, and that her interest in the sport didn’t start with her marriage.

Marquand said of Quickthorn: “There’s no masterplan with him, it’s plain and simple what he’s going to do. Frankie looked across and laughed and said ‘Are you going to drop in?’ because everybody knows what he’s going to do and they still can’t stop him. It is testament to how good he is.

Lot of fun

“It’s great for Lord and Lady Blyth because they have had a lot of fun with this horse and other horses. They are very passionate owners and breeders and you want them to find horses like this. It makes the game fun.”

Winning trainer Hughie Morrison said: “It is fantastic for James and Pam; they bred Quickthorn and it’s fantastic to see they kept him. “They have been very patient with him, and we’ve got our rewards. I felt that York last year when he won by 14 lengths was no fluke, and he proved it today. “We don’t have a huge amount of horses and it’s fantastic to train these homebreds, really, and to be able to bring them on so they reach their zenith at the right sort of age. They’ve had a Grade 1 and a Group 1 winner, and not many people have done that.”

HAATEM (Richard Hannon/Sean Levey) gave a big boost to the form of the Superlative Stakes won by City Of Troy when claiming the Group 2 Vintage Stakes in workmanlike fashion.

The 9/4 favourite was held up behind the pace set by outsider Witness Stand, moved through to challenge over a furlong out, and found plenty to take command inside the last; he was closed down late by Iberian (Charlie Hills/William Buick), but had a length to spare at the finish.

Mountain Bear (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) challenged strongly a furlong out but had no extra to offer in the dying strides, and finished a further neck away in third.

Richard Hannon snr won this race five times, so the winning handler was delighted to get his own name on the roll of honour. Asked about how Haatem measures up against impressive Ascot winner Rosallion, Hannon jnr replied: “This horse has won a very good race today. Rosallion might be the best we’ve had for years, but this fellow is a quiet achiever and gets better every day.

“I thought this was his day and could be his Derby, but he will get better as the year goes on and is a horse big enough for next year. He is a Group 2 winner now, so obviously we will have to look at Group 1 races, but he is getting better. He has to improve to take on the real big guys, but he is doing that with every run.”

KINROSS (Ralph Beckett/Frankie Dettori) has taken on the best in the world at six furlongs and a mile, but he’s ideally suited by the intermediate trip, and again showed his class in the Group 2 Lennox Stakes as he repelled the persistent Isaac Shelby (Brian Meehan/Sean Levey) by a comfortable neck to justify 10/11 favouritism.

Kinross had won the Lennox Stakes in 2021 and was beaten by a neck last year; he looked as good as ever in victory.

The only concern for Dettori came mid-race when he found himself trapped behind horses on the inside rail but, with the cutaway in operation, the rider had little difficulty getting a clear passage when the time came to make his move, and he and Levey on the runner-up asserted in the final quarter mile.

It looked like it might be plain sailing for Kinross when taking the lead, but to his credit, Greenham winner Isaac Shelby dug deep to keep the margin between the two as close as it was, for all Dettori was oozing confidence on the winner.

Marbaan, winner of the 2022 Vintage Stakes, fared best of the rest in third, but was three lengths adrift of the runner-up at the line.

Beckett revealed that the winner had stepped on a stone during his preparation but, while that might have been a big worry before the race, he showed no sign of discomfort as he won on his favoured surface.

“He likes soft,” said Beckett, “but over a mile he handles it quick, and we’ll take the same route again with him and try to dance every dance again.

“He’ll go to York, he might go to Doncaster for the Park Stakes, I hope he’ll go to Longchamp for the Foret, the sprint at Ascot, and Santa Anita. He is a gelding, that’s what he’s there for, he’s got to dance every dance.

“He could go to Hong Kong, particularly with his owner being Hong Kong-based, and there is an idea that that might happen as well. We might have to duck one of the races here to ensure he gets there at the end of the year, but it’s a good problem to have.”

IT was a good day for Irish trainers on Tuesday, and Diego Dias has certainly earned his right to that description.

The Brazilian has called Ireland home for a couple of decades, as a jockey and now a trainer, and he scored a debut success at Goodwood when Mansa Musa won the maiden race for juveniles at odds of 20/1 under Rossa Ryan.

Further north, there was plenty to cheer about at Perth as well, as Stuart Crawford, John McConnell and Noel Kelly all celebrated winners on the jumps card at Scone Palace Park.

Crawford saddled novice hurdle winner Park Annonciade (Daryl Jacob), McConnell provided local owner Jimmy Fyffe with a winner as Dripsey Moon (Ben Harvey) foiled the Crawford-trained Champ De Gane in the maiden hurdle, and Kelly landed the closing handicap hurdle with Court Cave, who was given a cool ride by Oran McGill.