Connections on Goodwood runners

Check out the view from connections ahead of Wednesday's big-race action at Goodwood.

15.25 - Whispering Angel Oak Tree Stakes

John Quinn - Breege: “We’re happy with her. She ran very well at Ascot and we tried to run her at Sandown (in the Coral Distaff), but we just couldn’t run her – it wasn’t a lot, I just couldn’t run her. We have been thinking about this race because we thought the conditions might suit her. She ran here as a two-year-old over seven furlongs and she handled the track well. She is a big, strong mare and, with a bit of ease in the ground, she’ll go on that.

"She is not slow. She won over five and a half (furlongs) as a two-year-old and was placed in the Princess Margaret. She is a quality filly, so let’s hope she runs well in a tough race. She is drawn in stall three, which is grand. I’d rather be three than 13. I’m glad she got drawn there, because over seven furlongs, if you are drawn out a long way, it is difficult.”

Saeed bin Suroor - White Moonlight: “She won well at Chelmsford. She came back from that well and worked nicely. Definitely she is in good form. She won at Musselburgh on good to firm ground, but maybe the ground conditions will be good for her. It will be nearer soft ground. We’ll see, we’ll have a look, but she has won on easier ground in the past as a two-year-old.”

16.00 - Jaeger-Lecoultre Molecomb Stakes

Mick Appleby - Big Evs: “He’s in good order. I think we have got a decent enough draw and we should be going there with a very good chance. I think he will be OK on the ground, as long as it doesn’t go heavy. You’d think he’d be OK on good to soft ground and the dam won on soft ground, so hopefully he should be all right. Obviously we have Kylian to beat. It is a great race, but we’d go there pretty confident and he should have a good chance. Should all go well, we’ll probably go for the Gimcrack (at York) next – that’s most obvious one for him, I should have thought.”

Ryan Moore - Kylian: “I sat on him for the first time at Sandown last month and you had to be very impressed by the manner in which he picked up after I switched him to the outside after a rail run clearly didn’t materialise. Big Evs is probably the one to beat, but this horse isn’t far behind him form-wise after what he did at Sandown, though both horses are unproven on soft ground and that is the question mark.”

Richard Hannon - Baheer: “He is in great form. He’s very quick and has easily got the speed for five no problem. The ground is an unknown quantity, but Mehmas liked it. I think he’d have a great chance as well.”

16.35 Qatar Sussex Stakes

Aidan O'Brien - Paddington: “He’s got winning form on very soft ground, so I wouldn’t be as concerned for him as I might have been for other horses. He’s got form on all types of ground. I hold Paddington in very high regard. He is very natural, very quick and very straightforward. He is a little bit different, we think, and the way he has progressed from run to run is very unusual.

"Ryan (Moore) always thought he had lots of pace and coming back to a mile won’t be a problem. We were delighted with him in the Eclipse and we always had the Sussex Stakes as part of his programme. He has been putting on weight after every run. He was much heavier heading into the Eclipse than he was before Ascot, which is quite unusual. He thrives on work and everyone involved with him is very happy. He has gone from strength to strength and Ryan is very impressed with him all the time. He is standing up to a lot of scrutiny and it is the ease with which he is doing it. He looks a serious horse at the moment.”

Chris Richardson, for owners Cheveley Park Stud, Inspiral: "At this point in tine, all being well, we’ll run. The ground is changing, but this has been the plan and she is on course to go to Goodwood. Obviously she has a weight for age difference, but it is a logical step really. We wanted to give her plenty of time after Royal Ascot.

"It was a good performance on her first run. She proved last year she runs well fresh and she followed it up. We obviously bypassed Newmarket (Falmouth) in preference for Goodwood. France was in the mix, but those races are too close together now and they have had plenty of rain over there. Heavy ground wouldn’t suit her. We have taken the chance and more rain would suit Paddington probably more perhaps than us. She handles soft ground. She won the Marois on soft ground, and it was easy in the Falmouth when she was second as well. If you are not in, you can’t win. Paddington is a serious horse. He is a bit of a superstar, but we’re fresh and he’s had a few more races than us. The weight allowance might make a difference and she’s in good form.”

William Haggas - Aldaary: “We left Aldaary in the Sussex in the hope that we get the sort of ground we had when Here Comes When won in 2017. He’s probably not good enough to win, but he likes the soft, so who knows. It wasn’t as soft as ideal at Ascot last time and it was a funny race. He was still a bit rusty there, but he’s better now.”

Richard Hannon - Chindit: “If the word soft appears in the ground, he won’t run. He has to have fast ground. If he doesn’t go there, he’s got the Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury, he’s got a race at York, there’s a Group 2 somewhere else – there are a good few, but he can’t function on soft ground.” - www.sportinglife.com