Placepoint Pointers

The final day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival presents one of it’s trickiest Tote Placepot opportunities – highlighted so ably by the £809 dividend 12 months ago.

Nevertheless, we’re prepared to go through the six races on Saturday to pick out your Placepot banker, a couple of outsiders to consider as well as pointers towards the potential ‘Torpedo leg’, where we could see those market leaders unplaced.

Remember, you just need to find a horse to place in the first six races of the day, with the action kicking off at 1:50, with it all available to stream by logging into your Tote account.

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How’s the Going?

It’s Good to Firm at Goodwood after the scorching temperatures on Friday, and with no rain forecast it’s unlikely to slow up. Expect things to be fast and furious on the Sussex Downs.

The Big Trend

While the feature of the day the Stewards’ Cup has a reasonable record for favourites, the consolation race (Leg 1 – 1:50) that kicks us off has seen just one winning favourite in the last 15 years, with 55% of those making the frame sent off at 14/1 or bigger. With that in mind, including a couple of bigger priced chances in your perm could pay dividends.

SPIRITED GUEST enjoyed a fast pace when going down a head in a Windsor handicap over today’s trip off a mark 2lbs higher in June. He was slightly disappointing at Yarmouth last time out, but was largely consistent prior to that run and can bounce back.

HIGHLY SPRUNG was another that started his campaign well, scoring at Newmarket under Lewis Edmunds. His run at York may have been slightly disappointing at face value, but he wasn’t beaten all that far and with four subsequent winners coming out of the race, it looks like he was pitched in a pretty hot race.

Placepot Banker

The penultimate leg of the Placepot takes in a 7f handicap where nine go to post, with a handful looking like real improvers. The stand-out of those looks to be SOCIETY LION (4:10) who although yet to get off the mark in handicaps, may just be ahead of his rating.

A winner on his final start as a juvenile, Sir Michael Stoute’s colt has been well backed on two handicap runs this term, but has bumped into some smart ones. The horse that got the better of him last time by just a neck was then placed off 6lb higher, while the fourth and sixth in that race have won since. The selection still looks to be improving and is hard to knock out of the frame.

Outsiders to Consider

In Leg 2 of the Placepot (2:25), QULOOB looks like he could be a dark horse to hit the frame. He was twice a winner over 10f for Owen Burrows in 2017, but has been competing at further than today’s 1m6f trip since switching to Gary Moore, largely to little effect. He was beaten just half a length off a mark 2lb higher on his only run at this trip for his current yard last September, and looks likely to appreciate a drop in trip for a yard no strangers to big priced Goodwood winners.

DINGLE (4:40) showed enough pace early on debut to suggest he has a future ahead of him. He tied up late that day at Newmarket, so if it was inexperience, rather than lack of stamina, he’s worth siding with. Two in that race have come out to be placed at Listed and Group 2 level, so it looks like it was a decent race. This has the prospect to be the same, but he’s interesting.

Torpedo leg

The feature of the day has the potential to knock out a huge chunk of the units that manage to make their way into the fourth leg. In 2018, 85% of those that had made it to the race, got no further. For that reason, having three representatives could be worthwhile.

NAHAAR has the hallmarks of a very fine sprinter and could be the cliched ‘Group horse in a handicap’ here. Having started the campaign off at 7f, a drop to six saw him go close in the Silver Wokingham before he landed a gamble in no uncertain terms at Newbury last time out. Up 7lbs here, he’s unlikely to be far away.

While he’s likely to find two or three better handicapped, the grand old campaigner DANZENO remains as consistent as ever. He’s only been out of the places twice in 10 starts since the beginning of 2019, and after an excellent second over 5f last time, the return to this trip will surely see him deliver a big run again.

Another that is likely to appreciate this trip is Richard Hannon’s WEDDING DATE. He caught the eye running on strongly over 5f last time, and looks a lurker in the market.

Our Placepot Perm

Leg 1: 6,12,17

Leg 2: 6,9

Leg 3: 2,4

Leg 4: 4,8,25

Leg 5: 1

Leg 6: 2,7

3 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 1 x 2  = 72 lines