HENRYTHENAVIGATOR is going to be very hard to beat in the Group One BGC Sussex Stakes today as he has done nothing wrong all season.
Winner of the English and Irish 2000 Guineas and the St James Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, he is a top-class performer.
Aidan O'Brien's star beat Raven's Pass at the Royal meeting.
Raven's Pass got pretty close, but that said would you really fancy him to turn the tables? He's going to need a change in conditions somehow, and for Henrythenavigator not to run to his best.
Maybe the unique track at Goodwood could help Raven's Pass, but all things being equal Henrythenavigator has that tremendous turn of foot and that bit of class - and O'Brien (bidding for his 16th Group One) horses in these Group Ones are proving invincible.
Is Henrythenavigator worth a bet though? He's going to be a very short price and as we saw on the first day of the meeting Conduit was a good thing to win the Gordon Stakes and he just scraped in at 1 to 2.
Henrythenavigator should win, but following these odds-on chances is a very quick way to lose money. It may be a race to watch although there are one or two interesting runners.
Major Cadeaux, trained by Richard Hannon, whose horses are in very good form, beat Big Timer over seven furlongs last time and that rival went on to win the Wokingham. Hannon's charge has a bit to do but he's been working at home with Paco Boy, who won the Betfair Cup on the first day so that could be a pointer.
Winker Watson is also an interesting horse. He was a tip-top two-year-old and is entitled to improve for his run in the Prix Jean Prat.
However, I think they are taking on quite a formidable opponent in Henrythenavigator and he is impossible to oppose.
The Group Two Veuve Clicquot Vintage Stakes looks a strong race. The weights are headed by Firth Of Fifth, who won the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket, but he has a penalty for that Group Two success and could struggle to concede weight all round.
There are several running here who ran in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. Lord Shanakill was third behind Art Connoisseur, Oriziba was fifth, and Instalment was well beaten in 14th.
They all run again, with Oriziba the most interesting as he should appreciate the step up to seven furlongs.
Aidan O'Brien has a couple of runners, and Westphalia, who chased home Bushranger in the Anglesey Stakes, looks to be the stable number one as he is ridden by Johnny Murtagh.
Bushranger didn't really advertise the form in the Phoenix Stakes at the weekend, while Set Sail steps up in class after winning a maiden at Gowran Park.
The two that interest are Sayif, trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam, a really scopey son of Kheleyf, who was second in the July Stakes at Newmarket, and Richard Hannon's other runner Soul City.
He won a maiden at Newmarket last time out and that form has been franked since. However, restrict bets to Sayif, who looks a really exciting prospect.
John Dunlop always does well at the Sussex track and can strike with the appropriately named Goodwood Starlight in the Sir Peter O'Sullevan Voice of Racing Stakes.
The three-year-old has looked a big improver this season following comfortable wins at Goodwood and Ascot, so should have no problems handling an extra couple of furlongs here.
