Qatar Goodwood Festival: Three horses to watch out for

Taws – 13:50, Wednesday 2nd August

Rod Millman’s stayers (those running over a mile and a three quarters or more) run to form 73% of the time, significantly more than the average of 44%:

Taws fits into this category and looks an interesting runner in the Goodwood Handicap over an extended two and a half miles on Wednesday, having finished second in the race in 2015 from a 7 lb higher mark. Taws was running for David Pipe over hurdles during the early part of 2017, but eventually got off the mark in that sphere when returning to Millman’s yard after the spring. This test is ideal for her and she is too well-handicapped to ignore here.

Londinium – 14:25, Wednesday 2nd August

It is well documented that Mark Johnston often has plenty of success at the Goodwood Festival, and in terms of his horses running to form, August is just about his best time of year:

One of Johnston’s most interesting runners during the week looks to be Londinium, who has been declared for the mile and a half handicap on Wednesday. Londinium has presumably had a few issues given the break he had between his final two-year-old start and his first start this season, but he ran well on his reappearance at Ripon in June despite not settling, and was poorly placed at Chester last time having missed a beat on the start. He's well worth another chance here.

Poet’s Word – 13:50, Glorious Stakes, Friday 4th August

It isn’t a surprise to see that a trainer’s highest-rated horses are those aged four and above, but Sir Michael Stoute’s median rating with his older horses (107) is higher than many other big yards:

Poet’s Word is a four-year-old who probably has even more to come judged on his promising second in the Huxley Stakes at Chester in May, where he finished a neck behind Deauville in second but didn’t look completely at home on the track and probably shaped like the best horse in the race. He was on plenty of people’s radars for the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket’s July meeting but was a late non-runner. He looks set to line up for the Glorious Stakes on Friday, however, and looks a fascinating runner taking in a mile and a half for the first time.

Find out which horses to follow at Galway