Godolphin’s Ribchester all set for showdown with Churchill at Glorious Goodwood

William Buick and Ribchester, right, were too much for the rest of the field with a record-setting win in the Queen Anne Stakes for Godolphin at Royal Ascot on June 20, 2017. (Reuters)

LONDON: Godolphin’s Ribchester is expected to be a leading player in Wednesday’s feature race at “Glorious Goodwood” — the G1 Sussex Stakes — over a mile on the Sussex Downs.
The Richard Fahey-trained four-year-old is bidding for an impressive G1 hat trick on English soil, with consecutive victories at Newbury (the Lockinge Stakes) and Royal Ascot (the Queen Anne Stakes) following on from a third-place finish in the Dubai Turf on Dubai World Cup night in March.
Ribchester also has a G1 win to his name in France, where he prevailed in the Jacques Le Marois at Deauville over the shorter, seven-furlong trip last August.
So his current standing among Europe’s elite horses cannot be disputed given his commendable form over the last year.
The talented son of Iffraaj will have to be at his very best in this renewal of a race where he finished third last year, as there are a number of other strong contenders in this nine-strong field.
Fellow Godolphin runner Toscanini, also trained by Fahey and ridden by James Doyle, should set the early pace for Ribchester — the mount of William Buick — and Co. having been drawn near the inside rail in Gate Two.
Churchill is the main danger to Ribchester’s chances and Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old can be forgiven for a below-par showing at Royal Ascot, with the five successes on the bounce at The Curragh and Newmarket prior to that indicating that he cannot be hastily discounted for a respected yard that won this race in 2016.
Churchill’s stablemate Lancaster Bomber and French raider Zelzal also have solid place claims if the ground does not prove too prohibitive for the former and the latter has acclimatized well from crossing over the English Channel.
Godolphin hold a four-strong hand in the Class Two Handicap over a mile and a half at 2:25pm (Saudi time: 4:45pm) this afternoon, when Buick will clamber aboard Charlie Appleby’s early favorite Secret Adviser with First Nation, Tamleek and Wolf Country for company in the starting stalls.
That jockey-trainer combination will team up again in the next, although Sound and Silence may find a fair few just too fleet-footed in the G3 Molecomb Stakes over five furlongs.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum has two of his two-year-olds — Mushahadaat and Naqaawa — entered in the Markel Insurance Maiden Fillies’ Stakes over six furlongs, while Appleby’s top-weighted Skiffle goes in the mile and a furlong EBF Breeders’ Series Fillies’ Handicap.