Dubai: Riggins, a lightly raced son of star stallion Cape Cross, can give the Dubai Thoroughbred Racing syndicate one of its most famous victories when he contests today's totesport Mile (formerly the Golden Mile) at Glorious Goodwood.
The seven-year-old is bidding to become the oldest ever winner of the race which has also attracted four other Dubai-owned contenders led by the Godolphin pair, Man of Action (Saeed Bin Surour) and Namecheck (Mahmoud Al Zarouni).
The Ed Vaughan-trained Dance And Dance represents Mohammad Rashid while William Haggas sends out the the Jaber Abdullah-owned Sooraah.
A full field of 20 runners have been declared to start. Ed Walker, the former assistant trainer to Luca Cumani, enjoyed a dream start to his training career when he saddled Riggins, his first runner, to dead heat in a Kempton Park Listed contest under William Buick in November last year.
A 10/1 chance with leading bookmakers Riggins was eighth behind Beachfire in the Listed Wolferton Handicap at Royal Ascot in June but boasts good form at Goodwood where he finished a close sixth behind Henry Cecil's Lord Shanakill in the Group Two Betfair Cup (formerly Lennox Stakes) at this meeting last season.
Walker said on his website: "I was delighted with Riggins' work on Friday morning and Will (William Buck) seemed happy with him after a seven furlong gallop on the immaculate Limekilns which was riding beautifully after the recent rain.
"I am very happy with where we are with Riggins and I hope we can land a decent draw in what is probably going to be the toughest handicap of the year. In his three races for me he has won a listed race before disappointing in Dubai after getting extremely upset in the preliminaries.
"Riggins owes me nothing having given me the perfect start to my career but having been so close to winning the Royal Hunt Cup last year he is more than capable of being in the mix next week. His form round Goodwood is excellent and I am delighted to have Will back on board having got on so well with him at Kempton," the trainer added.
