Picture: Wreck It Ronnie
By Peter Moore
History was made at Goodwood on Tuesday afternoon when a 1-33 Juddmonte colt Najidi Storm became the shortest-priced loser in British racing history after defeat to a horse part-owned by Manchester City player Phil Foden.
The biggest shock in racing happened in the opener on a rain socked start to the card at the Sussex track.
The Juddmonte colt was expected to confirm the promise of his Kempton debut win in the three-runner 1m2f novice stakes but failed to deliver, finishing a length and a half behind the 10-1 second favourite Wreck It Ronnie.
The colt switched to the near side 3f out, then switched left and was ridden over 2f out, switched right and stayed on inside final furlong, but had no pace to challenge the eventual winner.
Winning trainer Charlie Pike said: “I was expecting him to run well but winning against such a short-priced horse isn’t something you have in mind. We knew he’d run well, we thought he’d like coming back in trip and the ground on turf.
“We were positive but we weren’t sure about winning the race. It just shows that’s horseracing for you. We’ve definitely got a nice horse on our hands – I don’t think the favourite disgraced himself – we were just a little bit better in the conditions.
“He had two starts on the all-weather, but he’s a bit of a handful at home so that was just to get him on track and give him a nice experience. We’re not sure what we’ll do with him next. He’s going to get better with another year on his back because he’s still very raw.”
After punters had just about managed to get over the huge shock, it was time for the Oisin Murphy show to hit town, with the champion jockey riding a four timer.
Murphy’s opening ride of the day produced his first winner of the day after Quicken Away led all the way to stay on well to win by a length and break his maiden tag at the second attempt after a very promising debut at Newbury, finishing second of seven 25 days ago.
Spirit Tango made it two from two from the champion after taking the 7f fillies conditional stakes by a length and three quarters for the Ralph Beckett yard.
Murphy was out of luck in the neaxt after finishing second on Over Spiced to Kiss And Run.
A couple of minutes after the finish the stewards call an enquiry. Almost twenty five minutes had elapsed with anxious owner Jeff Burrows aeble to relieve his worry after the result remained unaltered.
It was also the second winner in the space of a few hours for Rachel Cook & John Bridger, who scored with Roman Spring at Windsor last night.
The Hughie Morrison trained Blue Wonder, made it three for the Irishman after taking the 1m 2f handicap by a length and a half from Platinum Prince who ran a cracking race under Toby Moore.
Going up in trip and well backed Old Is Gold made all in the lucky last with Murphy in the plate to make it four on the day and cut the gap at the top of the jockeys championship by 12.