Glorious Goodwood 2015: Fantasy set to give Richard Hughes dream start to his farewell

In many ways Glorious Goodwood will have the same feel this week that it has every year: five days of top-class racing, less formal, more relaxed, than Royal Ascot, and with the spectacular Sussex Downs as a backdrop. Pretty nigh perfect, if you like this sort of thing.

But it will not be quite the same and that is not just because of the huge injection of prize-money pumped in by Qatar Racing, whose 10-year sponsorship deal means, among other things, that the purse for the meeting’s highlight, Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes, has been raised from £300,000 to £1m – although even that was not enough to tempt connections of the 2,000 Guineas winner Gleneagles, who was withdrawn yesterday owing to the rain-softened ground.

Racing, like any other sport, needs its stars, as well as its traditions and prize-money, and Goodwood is not only going to miss Ryan Moore, sidelined perhaps for the rest of the season with a neck injury. It is also preparing to bid a sad Saturday farewell to another three-times champion jockey, Richard Hughes, who after this week will not just be finished riding at one of his most cherished and lucrative workplaces, but will be finished with riding everywhere.

Moore lit up Royal Ascot last month with his prolific exploits, while Hughes will be the second reigning champion jockey to retire in a little over three months, although unlike his friend Tony McCoy, the 42-year-old Dubliner, with his mind already on training racehorses, is actually looking forward to the next chapter in his life.

Goodwood has been good for Hughes, with 54 wins at the “Glorious” meeting alone, second only to Frankie Dettori on 58, and in recent years he has practically owned the place.

Those who know will tell you this is a notoriously tricky track to ride, with correct positioning and timing of runs even more crucial than usual. But Hughes, never short of self-belief, has revelled in the challenge, taking calculated tactical risks and getting it right more often than not, sometimes quite outrageously.

There are no standout rides for him today, although Oasis Fantasy, hopelessly drawn in the Northumberland Plate last time, but more favourably berthed this afternoon in the Summer Handicap, has been threatening to win a decent prize for some time and this could be it.

Hughes is expecting a good showing from Tupi in the Group Two Lennox Stakes, but there seems no good reason why he should turn the tables on Dutch Connection, who beat him into fourth place in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot and who now meets him on better terms.

Dutch Connection has since finished a most honourable runner-up in a Group One in France, clear of the rest, and with what would have been his most potent danger, Limato, taken out because of the ground, the way seems clear for Charlie Hills’ colt.

Toormore has the best credentials of the older brigade, but he failed when odds-on in this race last year and this looks tougher, rather than easier.

The Vintage Stakes has been an early step to stardom for some famous names down the years, including Troy, Dr Devious and Sir Percy, who all went on to win the Derby.

Birchwood, winner of another Group Two at Newmarket recently, is the form pick, but he had quite a hard race and this may be time for other, less-exposed types to emerge, in the shape of Galileo Gold, Ibn Malik and Strong Challenge.

Galileo Gold showed immense promise in winning his last two starts and looks more than ready for this step up in class. He is trained by the in-form Hugo Palmer and partnered by Dettori, who, rode his first British winner at this track as a 16-year-old in 1987.

Not long after that, trainer Mark Johnston bought Kingsley House stables in Middleham, North Yorkshire, and it is somewhat more surprising, given the geography, that he, too, has become synonymous with success at this fixture; he has been leading trainer nine times with a total of 63 winners.

Five of those wins have been in the Goodwood Cup (three with Double Trigger), but arguably some of his most impressive feats down the years have been with his handicappers, who, even when seemingly off the boil, raise their games again the moment they feel the Sussex summer air rushing through their nostrils.

Sennockian Star, who won the opener last year, is typical. He is an in-and-out performer, but it can almost be guaranteed that, again from a good draw and with actually a slightly better chance at the weights, he will have one of his going days, although Johnston is three-handed here and he also developed a rather annoying habit down the years of winning these big Goodwood handicaps with the “wrong” one.

Tuesday

The Jersey Stakes winner Dutch Connection tackles the older brigade in the seven-furlong Lennox Stakes.

Wednesday

Gleneagles is a disappointing no-show, but crack French grey Solow still has some serious competition to deal with in the richest race of the week, the £1m Sussex Stakes over a mile.

Thursday

Trip To Paris, trained by Ed Dunlop, tries to follow up his Ascot Gold Cup heroics in the Goodwood Cup and become the first to do the double since Yeats in 2008.

Friday

Some of the fastest sprinters race helter-skelter down Goodwood’s express five furlongs for the King George Stakes – blink and you’ll miss it.

Saturday

One for the purists, as many of the best European fillies meet in the Nassau Stakes, before punters get stuck into the traditional last-day centrepiece, the Stewards’ Cup cavalry charge, with the July Cup runner-up Tropics likely to be carrying top weight.