With Glorious Goodwood 2025 in the books, Races Now's Harry Fowler is on hand to take a look back at the meeting and flag up some performances punters should be adding to their notebooks...

Glorious Goodwood 2025 review

The Glorious Goodwood festival delivered five days of top-class action around the picturesque racecourse, filled with drama, surprises and exceptional individual performances.

Day One – Scandinavia stars

Day one featured the Lennox Stakes, with drama right from the off as Audience gave Kinross a kick at the start.

Audience, Quinault, and Witness Stand all flew forward, making it difficult for others to get involved. Witness Stand was a comfortable winner, while Lake Forest emerged with most credit. Jonquil disappointed again, and Noble Champion was pulled up early, later found to be lame.

The feature race was the Goodwood Cup over two miles, sadly marred by the tragic loss of Trueshan — a true legend and warrior. His unforgettable win in the Northumberland Plate, carrying 10st 8lbs, remains a career highlight. Thoughts are with his connections.

The race itself turned into a battle between Aidan O’Brien’s runners, with Wayne Lordon guiding Scandinavia to victory over Illinois, the pick of Ryan Moore. The winner has come a long way since his fifth in the Queen’s Vase and is now a short-priced favourite for the St Leger.

Day Two – Qirat causes 150/1 shock

On to day two, and the Molecomb Stakes was all about Lady Iman.

Dropped back to the minimum trip of 5f, she was impressive. A Nunthorpe bid could be next – while the trainer is undecided, the owner has his sights set on it, with the Breeders' Cup as the long-term aim.

The feature race, the Sussex Stakes, produced the shock of the week with a 150/1 winner in the shape of supposed pacemaker Qirat.

The other pacemaker, Serengeti, missed the break and had to work hard to reach the front. On first viewing, it looked as if the main contenders simply ignored the pacemakers meant to set it up for them.

Field Of Gold, the 1/3 favourite, was found to be lame and didn’t look at home on the tricky Goodwood track anyway.

Sean Levey was honest in his post-race interview, stating that he would’ve won if he’d been closer. The pacemakers weren't there for Rosallion – the other two sat behind him – which Levey probably welcomed, especially given Field Of Gold's position.

With his ground preferences, I do wonder when we’ll next see him at his best.

Day Three – Merchant and Whirl prevail despite mud bath

Thursday saw Glorious Goodwood turn into a mud bath. Rain fell relentlessly, and the next two big races were run via a flag start due to lightning.

These situations are always tricky; it’s far easier said than done to get horses to line up evenly. Regardless, both winners were deserving, stalls or not.

First up was the Gordon Stakes. Merchant, a highly progressive three-year-old and short-priced favourite, had to make up a lot of ground on terrible going.

Haggas had even mentioned the Arc before the race, which was notable considering this was Merchant's first start out of handicap company. He stayed on powerfully and won well.

The feature race of Ladies’ Day was the Nassau Stakes, and before the race, the going officially changed from "Good (Good to Firm in places)" to Heavy.

At the start, See The Fire was hindered by the flag, while Whirl got a dream start. Whirl I think likely would have made the running anyway, with stamina to burn, especially with rain-softened ground raising doubts over her rivals.

O’Brien’s filly took another big step forward and powered clear in the final furlong – a brilliant sight.

Day Four - Surprise successes

The penultimate day began with the Thoroughbred Stakes over a mile. Seagulls Eleven was the winner, having finished behind non-runner Opera Ballo at Newmarket previously.

It was good to see him get his head in front, given he’s competed in tough races and has bumped into some smart ones along the way.

The feature race, the King George Qatar Stakes, brought another Group sprint and another shock. Jm Jungle, in his first Group race, rewarded the ambition of his connections with a surprise win.

Asfoora drifted once the rain arrived – for me, she clearly prefers better ground. Time For Sandals ran a solid race under a penalty for her Commonwealth Cup win but looks better suited to six furlongs. The Sprint Cup at Haydock could be a target for him.

Big Mojo was well backed throughout the day, particularly as Asfoora drifted, but he too seems to want six furlongs now.

Day Five - Two Tribes takes International glory

We kicked off the final day with the last Group race of the week, the Lillie Langtry Stakes, for fillies over 1m6f.

Waardah and Danielle pulled clear of the rest, with Waardah coming out on top. It was an impressive performance, especially given she had only four prior starts and was stepping up half a mile from her 10-furlong listed win – also at this track. A promising Autumn lies ahead.

The feature race, and the week's big handicap, was the Stewards' Cup over six furlongs.

A 27-runner field spread across the track, and it was Two Tribes who made a mockery of his six-pound penalty after winning the International Handicap at Ascot the previous Saturday.

Well backed into 11/2, he looks like a sprinter on the rise.

Harry Fowler's five tracker horses from Glorious Goodwood 2025

To finish our round-up of Glorious Goodwood, here are five horses from the festival worth adding to your trackers:

1) Zgharta – Bad draw, slow start, and blocked run. Expect better next time.

2) Kurakka – Only six runs to date; just a pound higher for a decent third and may stay further down the line.

3) Fair Angellica – Slowly away but ran well in the context of things.

4) ⁠Whisper – Slowly away and struggled to feature at Goodwood. However, did beat Westridge two starts back, who won easily on day one.

5) Real Gain – Trainer was bullish beforehand and the horse ran an excellent race on seasonal debut.

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