Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips: Charlie Hills is set to plunder Stewards’ Cup once again

The Stewards’ Cup is far from the easiest race to decipher year-on-year due to the large field, predictable traffic jams, mixture of unexposed and exposed rivals, and draw biases.

Punters generally put a lot of weight on the latter - everyone knows that soft/heavy ground at Goodwood equals stands’ side and therefore an advantage to those drawn high. However, the Stewards’ Cup will be the 34th of 37 races scheduled at Glorious Goodwood this year and the favoured strip against the rail will almost certainly be chewed up by that point.

What looked an advantage earlier on the week on fresh turf may prove to be the opposite come Saturday’s featured race, especially as heavy downpours are set to hit the track in the hours leading up to the event. Heavy deluges can leave pools of water and I expect that to greatly deteriorate the ground where open hoofprints currently mark the track.

As a result, being drawn low may not be a bad thing. That viewpoint is backed up by Lancelot Du Lac’s victory in the 2017 Stewards’ Cup - an edition that saw all the protagonists race on the far-side of the track. This is a tonic for Orazio supporters, of which I am one.

Charlie Hills’ charge, who is drawn in stall six, is the sole unexposed and improving horse in this year’s renewal and, although you’re getting a relatively short price in a big-field handicap, it is becoming a trend that the Newmarket trainer wins this contest with similarly well-backed types.

Magical Memory (6/1 favourite) and Khaadem (4/1 favourite) have plundered the race in the last eight years for Hills, and Orazio boasts a similar profile. His penultimate victory on soft ground at Ascot was mightily impressive despite the fact he was well positioned from the outset. He won head-in-chest at the line, the runner-up came back to fill the same berth next time, and Orazio also posted the quickest sectional in each of the last three furlongs.

Maybe more was expected in the Wokingham last time, but he seems to be a better horse with ease underfoot and it shouldn’t be overlooked that he raced furthest away from the group with no cover or lead horse in the final three furlongs. Saturday’s conditions should be much more to his liking and he is the standout performer in the race.

Three other tips for you now, starting with two at Goodwood which should be tasty prices. The first is Paul and Oliver Cole’s Splendent, who is 16/1 at the time of writing for the 1m6f Summer Handicap (2.25). 

This four-year-old doesn’t have the sexy form figures that likely favourite Sweet William possesses, but he is a soft ground winner who has achieved three consecutive RPRs in the 90s, which includes a career-best 97 last time out at Newbury.

Given the ease in which he drew clear that day, a 5lb rise doesn’t look overly harsh and improvement is likely from this step up in trip. With Ryan Moore in the saddle, Splendent looks a nice each-way bet.

I also want to have an each-way bet in the 1m1f handicap (5.20 Goodwood) that ends the card as George Baker’s Graignes has caught my attention.

This horse is in his second spell with the trainer, who has acquired him from France in both 2021 and 2022. Baker obviously rates him pretty highly - he tried him in Listed and Group races early in his career - and it seems like he’s finally come to hand after a four-and-a-quarter-length romp at Kempton.

He’s now 3lb higher than when fifth in this contest last year, Neil Callan takes the mount, and there might be more to come. 

Finally, those looking away from Goodwood on Saturday should go no further than Newmarket as I strongly fancy Intinso in the 1m4f Turners Handicap (3.15) for John and Thady Gosden.

A big and scopey stayer in the making, Intinso bolted up on his debut at Newcastle last year before being pitched in at the deep end in the Listed Feilden Stakes on his return from a winter layoff back in April.

Connections rightly lowered their sights on the back of that effort and he almost rewarded them with an encouraging third at Chelmsford 27 days ago. The front three drew well clear of the rivals and Intinso shaped as if he would improve a great deal for a step up in trip. The Gosdens have duly obliged and this looks a great spot to make his handicap debut off a workable mark of 87.

Saturday’s Horse Racing Tips

Splendent (2.25 Goodwood) @ 11/1 each-way
Intinso (3.15 Newmarket) @ SP
Orazio (3.35 Goodwood) @ 5/1
Graignes (5.20 Goodwood) @ SP each-way

Prices are listed as SP as odds were not available at the time of writing