The Land Rover Stakes (2.05) at
Goodwood on Thursday is a tight little heat, and not so ‘little’
either, with eighteen runners set to face the starter over the
undulating 1 mile 1 furlong and 92 yards at the West Sussex track.
Nevertheless, it does provide us with an opportunity for a midweek
‘tilt’ which, as regular readers know, we always find difficult
to resist.
The one that immediately takes our eye
is Richard Fahey’s Spring Offensive (33/1), who may have had
excuses on his two most recent starts and looks feasibly weighted on
his best form. The Iffraaj gelding didn’t help his chance by
hanging at Sandown two starts ago and took a keen hold when only
fifth of six, beaten 1¾ lengths, behind Intiwin at Ayr last month,
but is just 3lb higher in the weights than when just touched off in a
0-100 contest, over a mile, on his reappearance at Musselburgh in
April.
He wasn’t beaten far at Ayr and the
form has already been franked by the third, Get Knotted so, provided
the extra two furlongs isn’t beyond him, he could go well at
generous odds. He’s actually yet to win beyond 7 furlongs, but
seems to get a mile well enough, so he appears to have every chance
of staying the extra distance on a course that is fairly sharp in
character.
Selection: Goodwood 2.30 Spring
Offensive (33/1) to win
