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VEN before this year’s QatarGoodwood Festival gotunderway, Mark Johnston’srecord at what most peoplestill refer to as ‘Glorious

Goodwood’ was simply outstanding, forhe had been leading trainer at the meetinga remarkable 11 times.And this year he made it a round

dozen! It’s an incredible record, and oneof which Mark is rightly proud. It’s allthe more astonishing when one stops toconsider that the stable’s runners atGoodwood face a 290-mile journey tocompete there.Here we bring you some of the

highlights of Glorious Goodwood 2018.

Tuesday, July 31

Five runners on the first day of themeeting yielded one winner and onethird. In the fillies’ handicap over a mile,Kalagia made most of the running underPJ McDonald, but it was ChristineBudden’s Excelebration filly, RebelAssault, who fared best, hitting the fronttwo furlongs out for Joe Fanning, only tobe run out of things by Move Swiftly andHateya in the final furlong.The day was lit up, however, by a

stunning performance from KingsleyPark 10’s Dark Vision in the Group 2Vintage Stakes. The Dream Ahead coltproduced a scintillating burst of speedunder Silvestre de Sousa to become Mark

Johnston’s fourth winner of the race,joining the exalted company of MisterBaileys (1993), Lucky Story (2003) andShamardal (2004).Since then, Godolphin have bought the

colt from the partnership who,incidentally, currently feature in the top50 of the official British Flat OwnersChampionship on £169,096!At the end of the first day, the yard’s

record was 1 win, 1 third and £117,525earned in prize-money.

Wednesday, August 1

By contrast with the excitement of theVintage Stakes, this was a lower-key day

HAPPY AND GL

Mark secures leading trainer

E

By

John Scanlon

Dark Vision andSilvestre de Sousatake the Group 2Vintage Stakes

9

ORIOUS AGAIN!

award at Goodwood for the 12th time

Communique wins under Silvestre

for the yard. However, Vale of Kent andMasham Star both ran excellent races inthe all-aged seven-furlong handicap,finishing second and fourth respectivelyin a field of 18.

Making Miracles fared best of thestable’s runners in the opening mile and ahalf handicap. The Pivotal gelding,owned by Messrs Acorn, Brown, Parkerand Scott, led with two furlongs to rununder Ryan Moore and lost out by just alength and a half to the winner, SotoSizzler.

At the end of day two, the yard’srecord stood at one winner, a second and

a third (1-1-1). Total prize-money:£130,410

Thursday, August 2

The day got off to the best possible startwhen Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed’sCommunique took the opening race ingrand style. A field of 12 went to post forthe valuable handicap over a mile and aquarter, with Silvestre de Sousa in thesaddle on the Casamento colt.

In the early stages, Godolphin’s Zamanled from Al Jellaby and Bathsheba Bay.

Silvestre had Communique tucked in onthe inner, travelling in around sixthplace. The order remained little changeduntil approaching the final quarter of amile. With his colt travelling strongly,Silvestre allowed Communique to edgeleft, giving New Show a nudge as hesought racing room in the centre of thetrack.

Once in the clear, Communique madegood progress to take the lead readilyand, keeping on strongly for de Sousa’s

Continued on p. 10

driving, he finished well to score fromZaman by one and a half lengths.This was Communique’s third big

handicap success of the season, winswhich have netted his owner more than£140,000 in win prize-money alone. “After he won at Newbury earlier this

season we might have thought he’d bemoving on to even bigger things,” Marktold the Klarion after the race, “but hehad a couple of slightly disappointingruns when things didn’t go his way. “They did today. He’s rated 97 so the

next step is either more valuablehandicaps or to go up to patterncompany.”

EXT to take the stage wasMarie’s Diamond, one of ninerunners in the Group 2

Richmond Stakes. TheFootstepsinthesand colt was steppingdown from the six and a half furlongs ofhis Anglesey Stakes win at the Curragh tosix furlongs here. Silvestre de Sousa took the ride and

soon had him tracking the favourite, Land

Force. He brought him to challenge witha strong run approaching the furlong polebut Land Force was proving a tough nutto crack and Middleham Park Racing’scolt had to give best in the closing stages,going down by a length to the Ballydoylecolt. This was another first-class effort byMarie’s Diamond, and one which nettedhis owners £43,000 in prize-money.Kingsley Park completed a double on

the day when Accordance won themaiden fillies’ race over seven furlongson just her second racecourse start. Kirsten Rausing’s home-bred

Archipenko filly, a sister to the Group 2-placed Clonard Street, was one of twostable runners in the Goodwood race, theother being Sheikh Hamed Dalmook alMaktoum’s debutante, the Charm Spiritfilly Stellar Comet. Drawn wide, Stellar Comet was

quickly away for Ryan Moore and wasable to cross to the inner and make therunning. PJ McDonald tuckedAccordance behind her, settled nicely insecond. Taking closer order approachingthe final quarter of a mile, Accordancewas sent into the lead by PJ, and battledwell to withstand the challenges of RuxPower and Lady Cosette.

At the end of day three, KingsleyPark’s tally for the meeting had movedon to 3-2-2, with total prize-money of£235,850

Friday, August 3

The Johnston yard was out of luck withwinners on the fourth day of themeeting, but there was a brave secondfrom Poet’s Society who, with MashamStar, contested the Golden MileHandicap. Ridden by Frankie Dettori, Poet’s

Society was sent off at odds of 12/1, hisonly previous win over a mile havingbeen landed in a three-horse race at Bathin June.Frankie Dettori gave Kingsley Park

9’s Poet’s Voice gelding a fabulous ride.Always in a prominent position, he wasswitched left by Dettori and sent into thelead approaching the final furlong in acompetitive renewal of the race.Seniority came with a strong run to

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At the end of the fourth day, the yard’svital statistics for the meeting had movedon to 3-3-2. Total prize-money of£265,160 had been earned.

Saturday, August 4

Pride of place has to go to Vale of Kent.Having finished second in the seven-furlong handicap on the Wednesdaycard, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed’sKodiac gelding produced a sparklingdisplay to land a higher class seven-furlong handicap on Saturday.Facing nine rivals, Vale of Kent was

drawn fairly wide. However, the earlypace was made by Bombastic, drawn onthe wide outside of the field, and JoeFanning was able to settle Vale of Kentbehind that horse in second.Passing the two-furlong pole, Vale of

Kent nosed into the lead. No sooner hadhe done so than a variety of dangersloomed up, none more dangerouslooking than On The Warpath. Vale ofKent stuck to his guns gamely, and at thepost he had beaten On The Warpath by anose, with Nicklaus finishing third,beaten a further one and a quarterlengths.

AppreciateDee Ex Bee contested the Gordon

Stakes, and while it was disappointingthat he finished second to Cross Counter,the St Leger trip and likely going willsurely see Sheikh Hamdan binMohammed’s Derby second to muchbetter effect. Cross Counter shattered thecourse record here, a sure sign that thegoing was firmer than Dee Ex Bee wouldideally appreciate.Another horse to impress was Sky

Defender. Making his debut in theseven-furlong maiden, Mr HamadRashed Bin Ghedayer’s two-year-oldFarhh colt ran a big race under WilliamBuick but lost out by just half a length tothe more experienced Duke of Hazzard,who went on to be beaten a short head inListed company at Deauville next timeout.We also had two horses who finished

third, Hochfeld in the staying handicapand Aquarium, partnered by AndrewBreslin, in the apprentice handicap.The final scoresheet for Johnston

Racing’s 2018 Qatar Goodwood Festivalcampaign was, therefore, four wins, fiveseconds and four thirds – a record goodenough to clinch the Leading Traineraward for the 12th time. Total prize-money of £333,648.50 was netted.

David Hickin leads Vale Of Kent and Joe Fanning to the winner’s enclosure

Accordance with Yard Manager Emma Dwyer