The 14:25 Qatar Richmond Stakes on Thursday’s Glorious Goodwood card looks a really hot renewal with recent July Stakes winner and Coventry Stakes second Mehmas not even second favourite.
The favourite looks certain to be Godolphin’s Sharmadal colt Blue Point for Charlie Appleby, who looked brilliant in winning by 11 lengths at Doncaster last time out without ever breaking sweat.
He’s odds-on and such market support must be representative of more than just the collective opinion of punters but those of connections of the horse too, which have to be respected.
Regardless, he’s stepping up in class and this will be his toughest test to date by far as Mehmas, who must concede 3lb all round, sets the bar quite high.
I’ve seen enough highly-touted two-year-old odds-on flops to think Blue Point is way too short, and Mehmas is a very backable 9/2 in his own right.
However, though I was initially very sweet on Mehmas’s chances, I can’t get away from the red-hot form of the O’Brien stable who run INTELLIGENCE CROSS.
He was half a length behind Mehmas in the July Stakes, finishing off best of all after missing the break and racing lazily in the opening furlongs.
A better break and a 3lb swing in the weights puts him bang in there to reverse the form, but it’s O’Brien’s knack of getting two-year-olds to improve with each run that’s the clincher.
The prize money for this race – and the whole meeting – is excellent with £113k to the winner, and, though Coolmore are in the business of creating stallions rather than chasing the money, I suspect this has been his target.
He’s got Ryan Moore on board who ‘loves the horse to bits’, and the quick ground is in his favour so the 9/2 in a five-runner race looks good value.
The Godolphin horse could be a world beater but they all could at this stage of their careers.
1pt win Intelligence Cross @9/2, 14:35 Goodwood, Thursday
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