Wednesday, 22nd July 2026
Jockeys that make it pay at Goodwood….
In ATC today….
Some trainers are of more interest than others in the good handicaps at Goodwood next week….
…. I’m not talking about the big industrial-scale yards – blasting away with the old shotgun….
…. I’m talking about a smaller yard that focuses on precision shooting….
Oh…. and following this yard has produced tidy profits….
Read on….
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It’s probably good practice to judge trainers on what their horses actually do out on the track….
…. rather than on what the trainer might say to reporters or TV cameras….
The problem with listening to trainers is that you can never really be sure who they’re talking to when they make their media pronouncements….
Ostensibly, they’re talking to racing enthusiasts…. and punters….
…. but – between the lines – they might actually be directing their comments to the owner of the horse…. the official handicapper…. the jockey…. or the opposition….
…. and – unless you’re privy to their innermost motivations – it’s unwise to take things strictly at face value….
Richard Hughes provides a recent case in point….
Ahead of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot he was saying that Sayidah Dariyah had ‘a massive chance’….
After Royal Ascot – with his prospect having finished 9/18 – the tune he whistled had changed….
“We took ten or so runners and nothing much below 20-1, and I'm a proper realist, so I was just hoping some might nick a place and if we were lucky we might get a winner....”
I get it….
…. we all know how easily history is rewritten once the future has unfolded – we accept it and move on….
…. but the point is worth making nevertheless – there’s a big difference between the bullish handler before the race and the realist who only appears afterwards….
…. and that disparity represents a minefield to be negotiated by punters who choose to treat every word uttered by a trainer as some form of gospel truth….
Like I say, it’s probably best practice to judge trainers on what they do rather than on what they say….
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When it comes to high-quality handicaps run at Goodwood….
…. and by ‘high-quality handicaps’ I mean races worth £15k+ to winning connections….
…. some yards are of more interest to punters – or at least they should be – than others….
Now, I’m not talking about industrial-scale yards that pepper qualifying races with runners….
…. Richard Hannon, for instance….
Yes, he’s had his fair share of winners in £15k+ handicaps at Goodwood over the last decade or so – 10 to be exact….
…. and he’s had plenty of placers too – 26 according to my count….
…. but it’s taken a total of 152 runners to bank those numbers….
…. and if you’d backed them all on the nose you’d have lost 70.17 points….
I don’t know about you – but I don’t need action of that nature….
…. I’m not interested in following a single yard and all its many handicappers to destruction across a protracted period of time….
Punters who go down that route are blasting away vainly with a pump-action sawn-off shotgun….
…. and it’s the kind of approach that produces pretty much what it says on the tin – a bloody mess….
When it comes to betting angles, I’m more of a sharpshooter than a blast merchant….
…. fewer targets…. fewer slugs…. precision shooting…. clean…. neat & tidy….
…. the sniper waiting patiently in his nest waiting for the right shot…. rather than the wild-eyed and manic gunman running rampage on the city streets….
So, David Menuisier’s horses would be very much of interest to me in the good handicaps next week….
He’s only had seven winners in qualifying races across the last decade – but all of those winners have been produced since 2021….
…. and he’s only fielded 25 runners in order to gather that haul….
He’s only had two additional placers to boot – but even that tells a positive story….
…. which is that when Menuisier sends horses to run in decent Goodwood handicaps – they’re frequently primed to get the job done rather than to fall short in the frame….
If you’d backed all Menuisier’s qualifying runners on the nose you’d be sitting on profits worth 20.25 points….
…. perhaps with the e/w money to boot – if you play that way….
…. and with the likelihood that you’d have done better still taking early prices, betting at Betfair SP, or playing on the Tote….
Not bad going from not so many bets….
Menuisier – who trains close to the track in Pulborough – won’t produce a stack of qualifying bets next week….
…. but anything he does put in a good handicap is well worth the onceover – because it’s likely to be primed, firing, and targeted at the job….
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That’s all for today….
Back tomorrow….
In case you missed it – find jockeys that make it pay on different parts of the Goodwood track here….
Meantime – check out upcoming targets here….
Contact me direct at – nick.pullen@spapublishinggroup.co.uk
Stay tuned….
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