Few racecourses are as beautiful as Goodwood which is nestled high in the Sussex Downs and boasts superb facilities and top-class racing. The ‘Glorious Goodwood’ meeting, staged during the last week of July and the first week of August, is the showpiece event of racecourse’ calendar.
It is similar to Royal Ascot in social stature albeit top and tails are replaced with boater hats and floral dresses. Back on track, Glorious Goodwood festival betting guides will tell you this five day festival is made up of 13 Group races and a host of valuable handicaps including one of the most anticipated betting races of the year, the Stewards Cup 2021.
At Goodwood races up to six-furlongs, such as the Stewards Cup 2021 , take place on a straight course. Races requiring further, such as the Sussex Stakes, are raced on a dog-leg course while there is a looped circuit which heads in the countryside for marathon races like the two-mile Doncaster Cup.
Glorious Goodwood Festival Timeline
Betting offers for the Goodwood Festival start here! Day 1 of championship flat racing action headlined by the Group 1 Goodwood Cup, a two-mile marathon which has been won by some of the sports greats: Yeats, Persian Punch, Double Trigger and, for the past two seasons, Stradivarius.
Goodwood Cup betting & odds will all revolve around Stradivarius who recently retained his Ascot Gold Cup title and will be chasing a hat-trick in this race. Goodwood Cup betting tips will be heavily weighted in his favour.
The Lennox Stakes is the second group race on the opening day’s race card. Sir Dancelot won this race in 2018 and he could be amongst the favourites this year.
Day 2 – July 31st
Many people’s idea of the race of the week, the Group 1 Sussex Stakes takes centre stage on Day 2 of Glorious Goodwood. Sussex Stakes betting offers are sure to be commonplace amongst the leading UK bookmaking brands as this race is a showstopper.
Remarkably only one horse has ever won this race more than once and that was the incomparable Frankel in 2011/2012. When he met Canford Cliffs in 2011 the race was given a tagline ‘Duel on the Downs’ and it put Frankel in the super-star league. There are two other Group races scheduled for this Wednesday meeting but if you have a Glorious Goodwood free bet to invest, place that bet on the Sussex Stakes.
Day 3 (Ladies Day) – August 1st
It’s Ladies Day at Glorious Goodwood and this year that means a lady riders charity race, the Magnolia Cup kicks off the day and raises money for a good cause. But the prestigious Group 1 Qatar Nassau Stakes is the highlight of the eight-race card. It is worth £600,000 and previous winners of this race restricted to fillies and mares include Ouija Board, three-time winner Midday and Minding.
Nassau Stakes 2021 betting will surely be headed by Sea of Class, the luckless runner-up in the 2018 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is the highest rated horse in the race and will enjoy better going than the soft surface which accounted for her defeat at Royal Ascot.
Day 4 – August 2nd
Speed freaks come to the forefront on the Friday of Glorious Goodwood with the £300,000 Group 2 Qatar King George Stakes, one of the sprinting highlights of the year, taking place. In 2018 the hugely talented but quirky Battaash won this five-furlong sprint and he’s an odd-on favourite to repeat the trick according to all the current Glorious Goodwood betting odds for 2021.
There are another three group races on the day but the Unibet sponsored Golden Mile Handicap could prove to be the biggest Goodwood betting race of the day. Big staking form students simply love this type of conundrum and any betting offers for the Goodwood Festival are likely to include enhanced each-way terms meaning five place-paying positions.
Day 5 – August 3rd
The curtain comes down on this equine version of the Henley Regatta with a seven race card featuring the Group 2 Lillie Langtry Stakes. While that race may boast the highest calibre of racehorse on the day, the hyper competitive Unibet Stewards Cup takes centre stage from a punters viewpoint.
The Stewards Cup 2021 is once again over the straight six furlongs and open to three year-olds and above. But three-year-olds have only won two of the last ten runnings of this popular race. That particular stat may help to answer the big question, who will win the Stewards Cup?
Statistically there has been three winning favourites since 2011 and the last six winners carried between 8st-11lb and 9st-6lb. OK, you are probably better off reading a Glorious Goodwood festival betting guide on race day as the draw can play a major part on the destiny of the £250,000 contest and some trainers will have unquestionably shown their yards to be in form.
