HOLLIE day season started early at Glorious Goodwood as racing’s golden girl stole the show.
No jockey has ridden more winners this calendar year than Hollie Doyle, but victory in the Goodwood Cup meant more than the previous 104 put together.
It was the second Group 1 win of her career and the second time she has won a big prize on the likeable Trueshan, having booted him home on British Champions Day last October.
The pair of them are chalk and cheese – Trueshan is a big, boisterous bruiser, while you’ll find louder church mice than pocket-rocket Doyle.
But on the track they are totally in sync, and Doyle was able to get Trueshan into a perfect rhythm after he threatened to pull his chance away early doors.
She asked the horse to stretch in the straight and he responded bravely under pressure, galloping clear inside the final furlong to win decisively from rank outsider Away He Goes.
Doyle, who completed a 123-1 treble later on the card with wins on 13-2 shots Lord Riddiford and Sisters In The Sky, admitted to feeling the pressure when main rival Stradivarius was scratched from the Goodwood Cup because of soft ground.
But if she was feeling the heat, she didn’t show it when it mattered.
She said: “I never really feel pressure, but today nerves did come over me as I didn’t want to let everyone down.
“I was very confident going into the race. I haven’t had many experiences of Goodwood, let alone on a short-priced favourite.
“I was feeling the pressure a bit more than normal, but Trueshan is an exceptionally talented animal on this ground.
“He was pretty fresh early on. They were going no gallop and I expected there to be a bit of pace on.
“Halfway round I thought I have to do something about this as I’m not getting trapped on the rail and so I managed to slide onto the girth of the others and he then settled.
“The further we went, the better he went. When I hit the rising ground, he’s gone again.”
She continued: “I can’t say Trueshan is very ground dependent as I haven’t ridden him on anything different to this ground, but he certainly is talented on this ground.
“I got some buzz off that – I don’t get too high or too low, but when you have experiences like that you have to make the most of it.”
Trainer Alan King is no stranger to top-level success over the jumps.
But he is now a Group 1 winner on the Flat and he was fighting back the tears as Trueshan was roared back into the winners’ enclosure by a capacity crowd.
King said: “It’s a very special moment, I can’t quite believe it.
“I’d been pretty calm leading up to the race, but as soon as they took Stradivarius out the nerves started to kick in. I hadn’t been this nervous for a long time.
“As soon as your main rival is taken out and you see your odds shorten and shorten, the pressure cranks up.
“It’s a huge relief. This is right up there with winning Champion Hurdles and Champion Chases.
“All I want to do is train good horses, I don’t mind if they’re Flat or jumpers.
“The pressure is off now, we always thought he was capable of winning a Group 1 and he has delivered.
“I’d say the Prix Cadran would be his big autumn target, but we could go to York next for the Lonsdale Cup if the ground isn’t too quick.”
If he does head north for next month’s Ebor Festival, he could clash with champion stayer Stradivarius.
He is likely to be rerouted for the Group 2 Lonsdale after John Gosden scratched him just over an hour before the Goodwood Cup because of soft ground.
Expectant fans let out a collective groan as news of his withdrawal was announced on course – and Gosden said he understood their frustration.
Gosden said: “It was a difficult decision not to run, a lot of people have come here today to see him and I know they’ll be disappointed, but the horse has to come first.
“We were hoping to do something which has never been done before in winning five Goodwood Cups.
“But when you get two inches of rain on the ground turns heavy it’s not going to play to his strengths.
“We made a couple of foolish decisions with him last season so we weren’t prepared to do the same thing again.
“We have to do what is in his best interests. York would be a good place for him to go next and maybe the Doncaster Cup after that.”
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