Scandinavia too good in Goodwood

GOODWOOD – Gold Cup hero Scandinavia extended his winning sequence to seven in an eventful edition of the £500,000 (S$859,000) Group 1 Goodwood Cup (3,200m) on July 28, following up his win from 12 months ago.

Drama struck after the stalls opened as Hector Crouch came out of the side door on Amiloc, which impacted the contest later on as the loose horse impeded the run of Trawlerman in the straight.

Scandinavia had moved upsides Trawlerman when the incident occurred passing the three-furlong pole and subsequently powered away under Ryan Moore to cross the line eight and a half lengths in front.

Trawlerman (William Buick) boxed on to finish second behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained even-money winner, with Yorkshire Cup victor Rahiebb (Ray Dawson) three-quarters of a length further back in third.

“Scandinavia is a great horse, a real, real top stayer. He has a big cruising speed and relaxes when he finds his rhythm,” said O’Brien. “Ryan said that the minute he started asking, he felt him coming alive underneath him.

“We felt he was really going the right way after Ascot. The Goodwood Cup is a great race to win, very prestigious, and it is great that Trawlerman came and all the horses were there. It is what we always want to see – win, lose or draw.

“The plan was that we thought Trawlerman would make the running, and we were hoping he would. Ryan was just going to follow him, like he did at Ascot.

“It was going to be very simple whether he was going to be good enough or not. That is what we thought and that is the way it played out.

“There was a little bit of drama. Trawlerman was a little slowly away and there was a loose horse. It was one of those eventful races.

“It was great though, Goodwood is a great track, and I think it was a great spectacle to watch. There was so much happening in a race like that and, over two miles, you get a great chance to look at it and take it all in.”

O’Brien is confident a horse like Scandinavia can be campaigned for many seasons more.

“He is very sound, he loves what he is doing, and I think the lads love having a horse like that,” he said.

“When you get a horse who can race year in, year out, with the ability he has, that is what makes it very special. They are very hard to find, nearly impossible.

“But when they come along the lads love it, and I would imagine he will race for as long as he is able to stay safe and sound.”

Asked whether the horse could emulate his former evergreen stayer Yeats, he said: “I think he could. He is a very high cruiser, very natural, easy to train, has a great rhythm and loves what he does.

“He has a great mind. He is by Justify, so he has that big rhythm.”

Moore was also effusive of Scandinavia’s immense talent.

“I was just talking to Aidan there and he said it is probably as good a staying performance as he has ever seen. I never asked him for everything either,” said the champion jockey.

“It was nice for him to have a horse to follow all the way – he probably thinks he got beat. He is a very good horse.

“He has an unbelievable race record now. His stride never shortened, he just kept galloping all the way to the line.

“What more can you say? He could not have done any more than he did today. He likes fast ground, is a high-class horse and hopefully there are a few more good days to come.”

Buick was despondent about the interference, saying it cost Trawlerman the race.

“It was significant. It is hard to say how significant but Trawlerman is a Gold Cup winner, so he stays and he was just going through the gears down the hill,” said Godolphin’s go-to jockey.

“To try and manoeuvre around a loose horse is never easy and my worry obviously was that if I found myself on his outside.

“We could give away a lot of ground and end up on the stand-side theoretically. I went the short route and really, he only got in the way at the most important part of the race.

“It definitely had an effect and it’s unfortunate. I know the winner won well on the day but, on a horse like Trawlerman in a staying race, when you get hampered at that stage, it is obviously never ideal. He has run a super race considering.” www.goodwood.com