Charlie Hills’ William Hill blog: Hoping Orazio can Jiggy past Stewards’ Cup rivals

William Hill ambassador and leading trainer Charlie Hills gives his thoughts on how Goodwood has gone so far and looks ahead to his runners on the final three days of the festival.

Goodwood so far

I was really pleased with Iberian in the Vintage Stakes. He probably didn’t quite handle the ground for a horse with so little experience, so to come home as he did was really encouraging. We’re very excited about him and he’s one to look forward to.

We hadn’t had Ancient Rome very long and we hadn’t done much with him at home to be honest. The draw looked pretty bad too, so while we knew he was talented, we would never really have expected him to do what he did. It was a brilliant ride from Jamie [Spencer], and we’ll look to step him up in grade now.

Goodwood, Thursday

Conde should go okay in the nursery handicap (4.10pm). He’ll like the ground and ran pretty well at Chester last time. A draw in 12 isn’t ideal though.

I’m looking forward to running Get Jiggy With It in the fillies’ maiden (5.20pm). I was really happy with her debut at Newmarket and she should come on for that here. She seems to be a very tough filly and I’m hopeful she’ll be bang there.

Goodwood, Friday

Galeron takes his chance in the Thoroughbred Stakes (2.25pm) and on his best form he’d have a shout. He wasn’t far behind Paddington in the Irish Guineas two starts ago and I was a bit surprised he didn’t show up at Royal Ascot because he looked great. He seems in good form at home, and fingers crossed he’s back to his best.

We all know how hard the Golden Mile (3.00pm) is to win, but I’d like to think Racingbreaks Ryder has the ability to be involved. He’ll like the softish ground and the draw in seven is fine, so I’m hopeful he’ll run a big race. As I said, it’s one of the most competitive races of the season, but we’ll give it a good go.

We’re lucky to have had plenty of success in the King George (3.35pm) and we’ve got Equality and Equilateral this time around.

Equality seems to be in the form of his life this year and I think he’s in the best form I’ve ever had him. A draw in stall one is fine and he comes into this after a fantastic piece of work. I’m really looking forward to running him in this and we’re very hopeful.

I’ve been pleased with Equilateral too and I wouldn’t rule out a good run from him either. In an ideal world, we’d want the ground to dry out a bit for him to see him in his best light.

Call Glory has won at the track before, so he should go nicely in the nursery (4.45pm). He might have only been 11th in the Super Sprint last time, but he wasn’t far off the winner, showing he can handle soft ground.

Goodwood, Saturday

Another very tricky race to win is the Stewards’ Cup (3.35pm), but we look to have a strong hand with Orazio and Tanmawwy.

This has been the plan for Orazio since his run in the Wokingham where unfortunately the ground was just a bit quick for him. With that in mind, I was chuffed to see him run so well and the surface at Goodwood will be much more to his liking. He’s amongst the favourites and we’d like to think he’ll be bang there.

Tanmawwy wouldn’t be without a chance either. He won well at Windsor last time and while he’s off a career-high mark, he looks the best I’ve seen him all year.

Miletus is a nice horse and he goes in the maiden (4.45pm). I’ve been pleased with how he’s gone at home and looks to have a nice attitude, but my only concern is that we wouldn’t want to run a horse with such little experience on really bad ground.

Soft ground will be fine for Lose Your Wad, though, ahead of the 1m1f handicap (5.20pm). The step up in trip should suit and he should run well.