Glorious Goodwood 2025 best bets: Three-year-olds to the fore on day one

The Qatar Goodwood Festival, better known as Glorious Goodwood, runs from Tuesday July 29 to Saturday August 2, serving up five days of great racing to tide punters right through until the start of the League One and Two campaigns on the final day of the meeting.

Ahead of the off we’ve identified three of our best bets for the meeting, including two three-year-olds that can capitalise on chunky weight-for-age concessions in their first runs against older horses and a fine margin Royal Ascot runner up whose odds don’t reflect them having the best recent form on offer.

Glorious Goodwood: Weight advantage to see Royal Ascot Champion kick on in the Lennox

Past Lennox Stakes winners Kinross (2021, 2023) and Audience (2024) take high rank in the betting for this year’s renewal, but both could be vulnerable to a pair of exciting three-year-olds in receipt of half a stone’s worth of weight-for-age concession from the older horses.

Jonquil will likely go off shorter than Royal Ascot winner NOBLE CHAMPION on the basis of his head second to Henri Mattise in the French 2,000 Guineas, but his subsequent drop back in trip to 6f in Commonwealth Cup didn’t go according to plan and he could be coming here in better form.

The selection, on the other hand, arrives at the South Downs track off the back of an impressive three-and-a-quarter length victory in the Jersey Stakes at Ascot. That looks strong form with the third and fourth both scoring since.
Already the best horse in the race at the weights thanks to an official rating of 116, there should be more improvement to come in his seventh career outing and he can take this.

Glorious Goodwood: Vulnerable Goodwood Cup favourite could have most to fear from stablemate

We identified Illinois as a vulnerable favourite at Royal Ascot and the serial top-flight silver medallist duly recorded his third Group 1 runner up spot in the Ascot Gold Cup, seven lengths behind Trawlerman.
Reasonable form no doubt, but hardly encouragement to back him to get his nose in front in a competitive renewal of the Goodwood Cup, where seven of the eight runners are rated within 4lbs of one another.

Given the handicapper has so little between the likes of Aidan O’Brien’s stayer, Dubai Future, Military Order, Sunway, Sweet William, Trueshan and SCANDINAVIA, preference is for the latter.

Wayne Lordan’s booking in the saddle marks out the only three-year-old in the field as the Ballydoyle second string but, rated just 2lbs lower than Illinois, the Justify colt has to be dangerous in receipt of a stone in weight from the field.

Our pick improved mightily to bolt up by eight-and-a-half lengths in the 1m5f Group 3 Bahrain Stakes at Newmarket’s July Meeting last time out. There could be more to come stepping up another 3f at Goodwood on that evidence.

Glorious Goodwood: Frost a nice King George price in possession of best recent form on offer

Again exciting three-year-olds are to the fore, this time in the King George Qatar Stakes, where July Cup second Big Mojo and Commonwealth Cup winner Time For Sandals take high order in the betting.

However, the Classic generation aren’t the beneficiaries of any weight concession in this 5f burn up and the pair are also worth opposing on the grounds that their best form has come over a furlong further.

FROST AT DAWN was a neck second to American Affair in the Group 1 King Charles III stakes over the minimum trip last time out and looks value at the prices. Currently 6/1, she had the 15/8 favourite Asfoora just under two lengths behind at Royal Ascot.

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