Trade Fair to show the way

13 April 2012

This time last year he came back soundly beaten after being sent off favourite for the Sussex Stakes.

There have been a couple more bumps in the road since, but Roger Charlton's Trade Fair looked right back on track on his most recent outing and can get Glorious Goodwood off to a flyer for his followers in tomorrow's Betfair Cup.

With Godolphin's golden summer showing no sign of abating, much of the interest in this £100,000 contest will centre around Kheleyf, who ran out a commanding winner of Royal Ascot's Jersey Stakes before getting no luck in running whatsoever in the July Cup.

Frankie Dettori accepted the inevitable a fair way from home at Newmarket, which meant that Kheleyf didn't have anything like a hard race, and the return to seven furlongs ought to suit him ideally.

Crystal Castle, Vanderlin and Royal Millennium also line up on top of their game with conditions to suit, but Trade Fair looks the best bet.

Granted, this powerful Zafonic colt lacks the consistency you like to see in a top-class racehorse, and his critics will doubtless be quick to point out that his four ventures into Group 2 and Group 1 company have produced three defeats as favourite and one well-below effort at York.

However, that bald statistic fails to tell the full story.

Soft ground has seemed all against Trade Fair more than once, including in last year's Sussex, but he's a different proposition under fast conditions and bounced off the firm ground at the Curragh 10 days ago to win a well-contested Group 3 contest with plenty in hand. The presence of the free-wheeling Naahy provided Trade Fair with the true gallop which suits him ideally in Ireland.

A similarly strong pace looks assured tomorrow and, with the Charlton horses in prime form, Trade Fair can swoop late to thwart Kheleyf.

Dettori and Godolphin field another strong contender for tomorrow's chief supporting event in Duke Of Venice, who tests his St Leger credentials in an intriguing ABN Amro Stakes.

This good-looking Theatrical colt bolted up in the Queen's Vase, but that didn't look a strong race by Royal Ascot standards at the time

and the placed horses have done precious little to frank the form by being beaten at short odds since.

Duke Of Venice will almost certainly have to improve again in order to give weight to sterner opposition, and one rival who looks set to give him all the trouble he can handle is Maraahel. Sir Michael Stoute's colt has contested two extremely competitive handicaps this season and emerged with flying colours despite being beaten.

The most recent came in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot, where Maraahel had to race wide from a poor draw but galloped on relentlessly to fail by just a neck to concede 21lb to his stablemate Admiral. That race has already thrown up a couple of good winners and, with further improvement on the cards, Maraahel can give it another handsome boost.

Goodwood selections: 2.40, Maraahel (nap); 3.15, Trade Fair.

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