Goodwood, England: Recent purchase Toormore was quick to pay back new owners Team Godolphin when displaying plenty of guts to capture the Group 2 Lennox Stakes, the highlight of the opening day’s racing at Glorious Goodwood on Tuesday.
A course and distance winner two season ago, the Richard Hannon-trained five-year-old was bouncing back to winning form having tasted defeat in five Group 1 contests, the most recent being when he finished third behind French star Solow in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
But the son of top American stallion Arakan showcased Godolphin’s shrewd business acumen when twice fighting back to repel the late challenges of Dutch Connection and fellow Godolphin hope, Dubai World Cup Carnival star Safety Check.
Ridden with supreme confidence by Godolphin’s retained rider James Doyle, Toormore had three-quarters of a length to spare from Jim Crowley’s Dutch Connection, with the William Buick-ridden Safety Check a flying neck behind in third.
Toormore was securing a third win for Godolphin in the contest following the Saeed Bin Surour-trained Ifraaj (2006) and Byron (2004).
Doyle was full of praise for his horse, saying: “He’s a solid horse. He’s shown that again today. Seven furlongs is definitely the minimum for him and I just let him use his stride and he relaxed in front.
“He ground it out nicely and it’s nice for him to get his head in front.
“He’s battle-hardened, they were all coming at him, but he kept pulling a bit out.”
Hannon was delighted to see Toormore end his long wait for victory following the Craven Stakes at Newmarket last April. He said: “He did it the hard way. He was in front, they came to him one by one and he proved his class.
“I think he wants a mile now. It’s just lovely to see him win a race as he’d been second in so many nice races and run so many good ones. He could easily have chucked it in and thought ‘I’ve done my bit now’.
“He was a champion two-year-old and he needed that and we needed to see that so we could go up to the next level. He’s chosen the right day to do it, with a lot of prize money on offer.
Godolphin handler Charlie Appleby said Safety Check ran a fine race to pick up minor honours on his first start since winning the Zabeel Mile at Meydan in late February.
He put Safety Check’s performance in perspective by saying: “As long as he comes out of this well, there’s no reason he won’t take a big step forward. He’ll go for the Hungerford next, as he’ll only have a 2lb penalty in that, so he should be competitive.”
Toormore more than compensated for the disappointment of Godolphin’s joint favourites in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes and the opening Special Handicap.
Birchwood (William Buick) and Strong Challenge (Doyle) were expected to dominate the former contest over 1,400 metres, but there was plenty of hard luck stories as Birchwood’s chances were seriously compromised by the lack of a clear run.
The race was won by Galileo Gold.
Earlier, Elhaame, trained by Emirati Bin Surour, finished a length-and-a-quarter in arears of the Luca Cumani-trained Mount Logan.
