Glorious Goodwood / Simon Rowlands / 30 July 2011 /

The traditional cavalry charge over Goodwood's sharp six furlongs looks as tough to fathom as ever, but Simon Rowlands reckons there are two you must have on your side...

The gap in ability between good sprint handicappers and Group horses has narrowed over the years and arguably even disappeared. A look at the roll call of winners of the Stewards' Cup at Goodwood bears testimony to the high level of achievement usually required to win one of the season's premier handicap sprints.

Only one of the winners this century has been rated less than 112 by Timeform at its best, and Borderlescott (the winner in 2006, rated 125 at his peak) and Patavellian (won in 2003, rated 124) have used it as a springboard to success in two Nunthorpes and in an Abbaye respectively.

Those who believe that "class will out" will be hoping that Hoof It can defy top weight of 10-00 and a BHA mark of 111 in this year's race, due off at 15:45 on Saturday. By my reckoning, they have every reason for their hope.

Four-year-olds - of which Hoof It is one - have performed best of all age-groups, while those officially rated 106 or more have also outperformed par.

But it is not 'trends' alone that point to the Mick Easterby-trained gelding running well here: Hoof It himself has excellent credentials.

He has won three of his last four races, the only blip coming in unsuitably testing conditions at Royal Ascot, and looked very much on the up again when accounting for the smart Tajneed readily at York last time, for which he picked up a 6 lb penalty.

Hoof It would be every bit as good back at the minimum trip, but six furlongs do not come much faster than on Goodwood's straight course, which is downhill in the middle section. That, combined with ground that is drying all the while, should tee things up nicely for Hoof It to run a very big race on what could prove to be his final outing in a handicap.

Hoof It is drawn near the middle, in stall 18 of 28. That has been an advantage, if anything, in this race in recent years, and it is where the majority of the likely early pace is to be found this year.

Nearby, in stall 15, is Victoire de Lyphar, who is another worth taking into consideration here. The David Nicholls-trained gelding is another to fit the trends in terms of age and weight carried, but the problem with him is that he has run poorly in two outings this year.

He was looked after on the first of those occasions and probably undone by the conditions on the second of them, in the same Royal Ascot race in which Hoof It underperformed. And you do not need to go back far to make a good case for him.

Victoire de Lyphar won two and was second in two from just four starts in 2010, culminating in an Ayr Gold Cup in which he found only Redford too good off the same mark as here. He has come in for some support in recent days and looks worth having on your side all told.

This is not a race to be risking the mortgage on - there are usually plenty of hard-luck stories after it - but this pair should give punters a decent chance of collecting at reasonable odds.

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Win back Hoof It and Victoire de Lyphar in the Stewards' Cup

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