Kevin Stott’s Blog: Losers at Goodwood? Thanksbutnothanks.

My rides on Wednesday begin with Tony Montana in the opening race (1.50pm) who is stepping up to a mile and a half for the first time. There is a lot of rain forecast on Tuesday heading into Wednesday and it might be that the ground turns up on the slower side, but that is something that John & Thady Gosden aren’t too concerned about. It was nice to see him get his head in front last time out and his family have done better over further, so hopefully the step up in trip can produce some more improvement in a competitive race. He is still an unexposed horse who is learning and going in the right direction.

Next on the agenda is Olivia Maralda in the Oak Tree Stakes (2.25pm). It was a tough decision choosing between her and Magical Sunset with the upcoming forecast. Olivia Maralda is a classier filly who is rated higher and has won a Group race already this year, however, she is unproven on very testing ground over seven furlongs whereas Magical Sunset loves testing ground. Despite this, Magical Sunset might just be a class below one or two of these in the field, so I’ve chosen Olivia Maralda. We are hopeful that she can run a big race and continue improving on what she has done this year because she has shown that she is very talented and seven furlongs seems to be her absolute optimum trip. If we were expecting the usual Goodwood ground then she probably would have taken all of the beating, but as it is, she is an unknown on soft.

Finally, I’m set to ride Thanksbutnothanks later in the card (4.10pm). She ran in the Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket last time out in what was only a small field where she made the running and didn’t stay the six-furlong trip. We were hoping that she could have snuck some black type that day, but unfortunately, she didn’t stay the trip, so this step back to five furlongs should help as well as the drop in class. On ratings, she has got a little bit to find and she is a little bit quirky, but she ran really well on debut at Ascot so any repetition of that form wouldn’t put her a million miles away.