Horse Racing Betting Tips: Suedois can make it third time lucky in Lennox Stakes
IF AT first you don’t succeed, try and try again.
That’s the motto by which SUEDOIS and the David O’Meara camp are sticking to as they bid to land this afternoon’s Qatar Lennox Stakes (3.00pm) after two near misses in recent seasons.
The evergreen eight-year-old suffered traffic problems before rattling home to finish third only half a length behind winner Breton Rock in this two years ago.
Connections dusted themselves down and had another go 12 months ago when they were quite literally nutted on the line by Sir Dancealot.
That agonising short head defeat would have been a tough one to swallow, but he takes his chance again this afternoon and there is no reason to think he won’t get his moment in the sun.
He finished third for a second successive season to Beat The Bank in the Summer Mile at Ascot earlier in the month so would appear to be in pretty similar form.
It is strange to think that he actually hasn’t won a race since his success in the Grade One Shadwell Turf Mile in Keeneland way back in October 2017.
He has been ultra-consistent in 11 starts since though only finishing out of the first four on two of those occasions.
The fact that he goes so well at Goodwood is another huge positive and I like the addition of cheekpieces for the first time.
O’Meara will have surely tried them at home and they must have eked out some improvement to warrant applying them at this late stage in his career.
He looks well worth supporting each-way at 9/1 with Coral in a race he deserves to win.
Favourite Zaaki doesn’t look to be crying out for a drop back to this seven-furlong trip and has no Goodwood form either.
A bigger danger may come from last year’s winner Sir Dancealot despite his stable having a woeful season and Frankie Dettori’s mount Hey Gaman who is in great form.
The 1m2f handicap (1.50pm) which opens the meeting is traditionally a tricky puzzle to solve.
It normally pays to side with Mark Johnston, so it would be no surprise to see either Aquarium or Ventura Knight bounce back to form.
However, I like the look of two at decent prices in a competitive looking contest.
JOHNNY DRAMA is having his first run for trainer Andrew Balding having previously been handled by Ger Lyons in Ireland.
The four-year-old was thrown in at the deep end at Royal Ascot last time over a trip that stretched him and he will relish the drop back to this distance.
He gets the able assistance of champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa who can take advantage of his nice low draw in stall one.
His two victories back home in Ireland came from the front so I expect him to be ridden positively and the 14/1 looks worth snapping up.
My other selection requires a little more imagination, but top-weight MOUNTAIN HUNTER can go well at 14/1 with Ladbrokes.
The five-year-old can benefit from Cieren Fallon’s useful 5lb claim and has winning form here from a couple of years ago.
He shaped with plenty of promise on his reappearance at Royal Ascot and is effectively running off a mark of 102 here.
That was the same mark from which he raced when pulverising a good field in a valuable handicap at Meydan back in February, so looks a player here.
POINTERS
Johnny Drama e/w 1.50pm Goodwood
Mountain Hunter e/w 1.50pm Goodwood
Suedois e/w 3.00pm Goodwood