Despite all the top-level contests being done at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Friday's action at the Sussex venue is almost as compelling with the G2 King George Qatar S. the fast and frenzied feature.
Now that Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is in a deserved retirement, one of Britain's fastest five-furlong sprints is looking for a new ruler but at present he is not instantly recognisable in the void left by Shadwell's super-charged performer. Perhaps the best to hope for is an engaging spectacle as the July 2 G3 Sandown Sprint S. one-two Raasel (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) and Mitbaahy (Ire) (Profitable {Ire}) renew rivalry on this entirely different track.
The Horse Watchers' Raasel–who once raced in the Battaash colours–relished the uphill finish at the Esher venue to deny Hasan Mefareh Alajmi and Fawzi Nass's 3-year-old Mitbaahy by a neck, but he is also two-for-two in handicaps over this course and distance so must rate as a versatile as well as progressive performer. The syndicate's Chris Dixon revealed that the Breeders' Cup is in the syndicate's sights for the Mick Abbleby-trained 5-year-old. “Whatever happens here, so long as he comes out of it well, I think we'll be running in the Nunthorpe and we'll go from there. We'll think about the Breeders' Cup at the end of the season potentially as well, so it's exciting stuff and we're going to find out a lot more in the next couple of months, I guess,” he said.
“This is the race that we've always had our eye on, even before he ran in the listed race at Haydock,” Dixon added. “You know that bridge from handicaps to group races in five-furlong races isn't always massive and we know he likes Goodwood so much, so basically after he won his handicap there earlier in the season, we kind of thought this is where we'd come and it was just a case of how we got here.” Mitbaahy, a half-brother to the GI Del Mar Oaks heroine Going Global (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), came to the fore with a win in Sandown's Listed Scurry S. June 11 and holds every chance of reversing the form with Raasel with age on his side.
Retrieval Missions
Also in the King George is the Hayses' Equilateral (GB) (Equiano {Fr}) and Khaadem (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), with the latter looking the most intriguing. He took this meeting's Stewards' Cup in 2019 and appeared a revitalised character when making all in Newmarket's G3 Palace House S. Apr. 30, but left the stalls without his rider in Royal Ascot's G1 King's Stand S. June 14. There is nothing the like of Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G3 Bonhams Thoroughbred S. the Shadwell star won 12 months ago, but last year's G2 Champagne S. scorer and G1 Dewhurst S. and G1 Futurity Trophy third Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) remains a class act despite finishing out of the frame in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains at ParisLongchamp May 15 and Royal Ascot's G1 St James's Palace S. June 14. “He ran well at Ascot in the St James's Palace, which is proving to be a strong piece of form and there is plenty to take from the race,” trainer Roger Varian said of Teme Valley and Ballylinch Stud's representative. We would look at that race as his first proper race of the season–the French Guineas was a bit of a non-event, so we think that piece of form at Ascot would present him with a strong chance in this race.”
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