Racing Review: Goodwood and Sandown recap plus your weekly eye-catcher

In his latest Racing Review column, Odds Now’s Harry Fowler looks back at the key action from Goodwood, Sandown, Windsor and Ireland as the return of softer ground provided punters with a different puzzle to solve.

Zavateri strengthened his credentials for a major autumn prize with an impressive Celebration Mile success, while there were several notable performances elsewhere. Harry gives his verdict on the weekend before picking out two horses for the notebook from Sandown.

Weekend Racing Review: August 30th/ 31st 2026

This weekend brought something quite different: rain. Seeing soft going conditions added a different element to the racing, and it’s something for those of us who study the form to take note of.

Zavateri bolts up in the Celebration Mile

Starting off at Goodwood, their feature race was the Celebration Mile, with Zavateri the short-priced favourite. Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton was that confident in him that she said if he handles the ground, he will win.

I personally really fancied him, as I said I had backed him in last week’s York review and again in this weekend’s Punters Panel.

Zavateri duly bolted up. The ground didn’t look to inconvenience him at all, and it was good to see him winning again, having done so on a few occasions as a two-year-old.

Now that he has shown he isn’t ground-dependent, I think he looks very interesting for the QEII, and I am backing him.

Love Dynasty springs 33/1 Atalanta Stakes shock

Over to Sandown, where there were two Group 3 races. The first was the Atalanta Stakes, which looked a red-hot renewal with some promising horses in the field. However, there was a shock result.

Love Dynasty had spent the summer on the sidelines waiting for the rain, and that now looks a very smart move. She produced a career-best performance to win at odds of 33/1, beating Noche Classica at 14/1 by a neck.

Alfred Wallace takes the Solario Stakes

The second Group 3 was the Solario Stakes, and the big news coming into the race was that the Roger Varian-trained Rock Montreal, who had been mightily impressive on debut, was a non-runner.

The market was then a bit all over the place. Mia Fantasia ended up going off favourite, stepping up from a nursery win, but could only manage fifth. However, he was wide on the turn and quite a way back in the field before staying on nicely.

Alfred Wallace also shortened considerably with the non-runner and took victory under a good ride from Kieran Shoemark.

Breacher was a big mover in the ante-post market but, if anything, drifted after the non-runner. He finished third but still looked very green, and there should be plenty more to come from him with experience, especially with the move up to a mile.

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Constitution Hill misses Windsor as Tenability strikes

Windsor hosted the Listed August Stakes, a race which received plenty of coverage in the week leading up to it as it was set to be Constitution Hill’s return – and it should have been, given how things worked out.

Nicky Henderson decided not to run him in the race and instead wait for Kempton, as he didn’t want to make a late call with the ground looking unlikely to be soft. It turned out that the ground at Windsor did come up soft, and he would have faced much easier opposition than horses like Bay City Roller at Kempton next Saturday for an Arc prep.

With no Constitution Hill, it was still an intriguing race, especially with big market mover White Birch lining up. A Group 1 winner in Ireland who had beaten horses like Auguste Rodin, he had been off the track for 326 days and was making his first start for new owners, a new trainer and a new jockey.

However, he could only manage third. It was a run not short of promise, though, and he is one to watch for the autumn on his favoured slower ground.

Tenability was the winner, giving weight away to the field in a nice performance. He looks like one who will continue to win races at this level and is likely to get his Group victory soon.

Push The Boat Out ends Great Barrier Reef’s unbeaten record

In Ireland on Saturday, the Round Tower Stakes featured short-priced favourite Great Barrier Reef, who had not been seen since his victory in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

He has had his issues, and conceding weight all round proved a step too far as he lost his unbeaten record, getting beaten a neck by Push The Boat Out.

Push The Boat Out won well on debut, beating Gimcrack disappointment Marco Polo, who was also making his debut.

Prestige Stakes provides more clues for the season ahead

Onto Sunday, and there was just one race of note: the Group 3 Prestige Stakes at Goodwood.

This was quite the messy race. However, I don’t think you can argue with the winner, who loved the slower ground and put last time’s Deauville disappointment behind her to win.

That Albany form didn’t look amazing after a few runners had come out and run, but it is starting to look like form worth taking note of as the season goes on.

Eabha looked an eyecatcher in second, and it could be down to the slower ground that she showed improvement, but I would be cautious about taking this run too literally.

Fowler’s eye-catcher of the week – Flower Show

My eye-catcher of the week comes from the 1:40pm at Sandown on Saturday.

I think this race could work out well in the future and, while she isn’t the one for the week, I would also encourage you to go back and watch Empress Jingu and the ride she was given, then put her in your trackers.

I think it’s fair to say Oisin Murphy gave her a tender ride and, for a trainer like Andrew Balding, whose horses tend to improve from their first to second race, I think she will be one to do something similar.

However, the big eye-catcher of the week in the same race was Flower Show for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby.

She was strong in the market and so much went wrong for her, but she still stayed on nicely for third.

I think she will have learned bundles from the experience and could potentially be a smart one.