John Gosden on his 2023 Goodwood Cup hopes

John Gosden on his 2023 Goodwood Cup hopes ahead of the Qatar Goodwood Festival

Transcript

00:00 So John, looking ahead to Goodwood next week, you've got a couple in the Goodwood Cup.

00:12 What are your running plans with regards to Kourosh Moanami and Gregory?

00:16 Well at present they will both be hopefully left in the race and then we will make a decision

00:22 close to the time whether one of them runs or whether both of them run.

00:26 And Gregory has been incredibly progressive, he's only run three times in his career in

00:32 all this season.

00:33 You know the family very well, tell us about him as a horse.

00:36 He's by Golden Horn, who he knew well, but this boy has been quite overgrown nearly,

00:43 like his mother.

00:44 She was very tall, she won the Park Hill for us, Gretchen, and for, you know, owner breeder

00:51 Philippa Cooper.

00:52 So it's very much her family.

00:54 Golden Horn's complimented it in many ways, but he saw the two miles out, or the mile

01:00 six the other day, and I think he'll see the two miles out as well, if she was comfortable

01:04 over that trip.

01:05 And I think he's very much a progressive sort.

01:08 He's a three-year-old getting the weight in the race, which is a very big edge.

01:13 And you know, we've done it before with Stradivarius, so we're looking very closely at the race.

01:18 We've been very happy with him since Ascot, and he's learnt a lot since then.

01:22 He's a talented colt with a great mind on him, just like his mother and father.

01:26 He's got a very relaxed attitude to life.

01:29 I think the horse who was obviously second in the Gold Cup will be there.

01:32 He sets a very high standard himself.

01:34 So you know, Goodwood has its own demands, the swing left, right, up, down.

01:39 It's not like competing in the ground all the way from Swinley Bottom that you get at

01:44 Ascot.

01:45 So it demands a lot of agility of a horse, but interestingly enough, both horses have

01:50 won there, though I would have to say that they looked a little bit in the air galloping

01:56 at a couple of stages, but they would have learnt a lot from their experience previously

02:00 at Goodwood.

02:01 And the ownership group that was involved as the emir of Qatar, how important is it

02:06 at their Qatar-sponsored meeting to have a runner like this in the Goodwood Cup?

02:10 I think it's extremely important.

02:13 Obviously they put a great deal into the meeting.

02:17 To me it's lifted the whole event, particularly with the sponsorship and their presence there.

02:25 So I think to that extent it's key and let's hope we can at least be running well for them.