Glorious Goodwood Festival: Favourites for the Golden Mile Handicap

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The Goodwood Festival, also known as ‘Glorious Goodwood’, is now less than a week away, and excitement is starting to build for the prestigious five-day flat meeting — as the recent lifting of coronavirus restrictions in England means there is no cap on how many racegoers can attend the event!

There is so much to look forward to across the five days, including the Goodwood Cup on day one, the Sussex Stakes on day two and Ladies’ Day (day three). However, with four group races, day four also boasts a lot of promise, and whilst the Group 2 King George Stakes is the penultimate day’s main attraction, the historic Golden Mile Handicap also promises to be a top-class race.

One of the richest races of its type in the world, read on a we take a look at the favourites in the Goodwood betting odds to win the Golden Mile…

Real World – 6/1

After winning his debut at Chelmsford last October, beating Lost Eden by some five lengths to win a Novice Stakes, Real World was sent to Meydan in Dubai. However, the Saeed bin Suroor-trained horse failed to win any of his four races in the UAE. He has since returned to the UK, landing a shock victory from 18/1 in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot last month, before romping home in first in the listed Stevenson Stakes at Newbury. Those two victories have set him in good stead ahead of the Golden Mile, and he’s certainly the one to beat. 

Magical Morning – 7/1

By John Gosden’s extremely high standards Magical Morning didn’t exactly get off to the best of starts. Sixth of 13 in his debut at Kempton in October 2019 was a disappointing way to kickstart his career. He bounced back briefly with back-to-back victories at Yarmouth and Doncaster last June. However, four races without a victory followed, including in the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot last month, where he trudged home in eighth. He got back on track with a win at Sandown earlier this month, narrowly beating Maydanny by three quarters of a length. It’s hard to know what to expect from him at Goodwood, but with Frankie Dettori in the saddle, anything is possible. (mytravelintuscany.com)

Maydanny – 8/1

Given Maydanny’s recent form, it’s hard to picture the Mark Johnson-trained horse beating the likes of Magical Morning or Real World over the line in the Golden Mile. The five-year-old has won just two of his 11 races to date, both of which came last season, and he heads into this race without a win in five races. After kicking off his season with a second-place finish in the Betfair Suffolk Stakes at Newmarket, he was well towards the back of the 30-horse field in the Royal Hunt Cup. Another second-place finish to Magical Morning at Sandown was a good recovery from that terrible run at Ascot, but he’ll have to step it up even more to win this race. 

Perotto – 8/1

With nine placed finishes (four of which were wins) in his 12 races, Perotto always seems to be there or thereabouts, and given his impressive record at Goodwood, he certainly makes for a tempting bet ahead of the Golden Mile. The Marcus Tregoning-trained horse has won two of his three races at the scenic Chichester-based racecourse, finishing second in the other. He beat Starshiba over the line by a shorthead in the Sussex Roof Garden Handicap at Goodwood last month and a win at Royal Ascot in the Britannia Stakes followed. Ninth last time out at the Newmarket July Festival wasn’t Perotto’s best performance, but Goodwood is where he fares best and it will be interesting to see if he can add another victory to his good record there. 

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