William Haggas is planning a trip to Australia with Sam Hawkens after the progressive four-year-old justified 4-1 favouritism in the Coral Summer Handicap at Goodwood.
On a hat-trick following wins at Newcastle and Hamilton, Tom Marquand’s mount was good value for the winning margin of half a length over Dancing In Paris, with Aeronautic a neck further behind in third.
Haggas was completing a quick-fire double after landing the opening Glorious Stakes with admirable veteran Al Aasy.
Of Sam Hawkens, he told Racing TV: “I was pleased with him, he’s really improved this year. Sam, our son, bought him last summer online, we didn’t really like him much when he came and he ran two pretty ordinary races.
“We gelded him over the winter and he’s taken a bit of time, but the horse has really thrived and is obviously in good form and on good terms with himself as he went to Newcastle and won and went to Hamilton and won and he’s come for a big race today and won.
“He’ll go to Australia I think. We’ve booked a place in quarantine on September 5 and the race is on October 18, so I think we’ll go now.”
Al Aasy’s rider Jim Crowley completed a double of his own in the Whispering Angel Handicap aboard the John and Thady Gosden-trained Mudbir.
A 4-1 shot having won two of his three previous starts this season, the three-year-old moved to the front entering the last half-furlong and while Dance In The Storm then swooped with what looked like a winning challenge, Mudbir found more to win in a photo finish by a short head.
The stewards did hold an enquiry after the first two came close together in the heat of battle, but the placings remained unaltered.
Crowley, riding his 100th Goodwood winner, said: “This is my local track and it’s always been very lucky for me over the years. It’s been lucky again today.
“I hope Mudbir continues to progress, he’s a lovely horse and still very green. He had to be very brave to go through a gap – he got a smack across the face as he went through.
“When he hit the front, he was still a bit green, but I always felt he was holding the second.”
Aidan O’Brien’s Isaac Newton toughed out victory in the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes.
Beaten a nose when second to stablemate New Zealand on his Curragh debut two weeks ago, the Camelot colt was an 8-13 favourite to go one better under Ryan Moore and while odds-on backers were made to sweat, he got rolling late to deny Evanesco by a neck.
Moore said: “He ran a lovely race, he had a very good run the first day at the Curragh and the third horse (Action) just won at Galway, so the form looked fairly good.
“I suppose seven furlongs on this track was probably not ideal for him, but he did everything right and got into a nice rhythm and stayed going well.
“He showed a good attitude and he’ll continue to improve from race to race.”
The Coral Golden Rewards Shaker Handicap brought the five-day Qatar Goodwood Festival to a close and it was Andrew Balding’s 11-8 market leader Gladius who sent favourite backers home happy with a hard-fought success over Whip Cracker in the hands of William Buick.
“He’s had to do it the hard way, he was posted a little bit wide, but William has done a lovely job,” said Balding.
“He’s a lovely horse, he doesn’t show a huge amount at home so each time we’ve run him it’s been a pleasant surprise and hopefully he can keep going because he keeps improving.
“He’s won a handicap today off 94 and we’ll probably go for another handicap in my opinion, but we need to discuss that with his partners.”
