Glorious Goodwood started in the UK overnight with the running of the Group I Goodwood Cup (2m) which was turned into a procession by the dazzling runaway winner Quickthorn.
Trained by Hughie Morrison and ridden by Tom Marquand, six year-old Nathaniel gelding Quickthorn set a brisk pace in front leading by as much as 16 lengths in the middle stages before finally getting to the winning post six lengths clear of quality stayers Emily Dickinson and Coltrane with race favourite and Ascot Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami finishing sixth.
“He's a fun horse to ride,” said Tom Marquand.
“There's no masterplan with him. Down at the gates Frankie looked across and laughed and said 'are you going to drop in?' He goes out wearing his heart on his sleeve and everybody knows what he's going to do and they still can't stop him. It is testament to how good he is. He's had some great days, but he deserved a Group 1 and it would have felt wrong if he had never got one.”
A multiple Group winner before this career defining victory, Quickthorn has the overall record of nine wins and four placings from 22 starts.
“We were pretty bullish today and no one was prepared to be the chaser, but had they been they would have probably not got there and then finished out the back,”: said Hughie Morrison.
“He's got a huge stride and I'd love to do an analysis on that, as it would be something for posterity I think, and he's quite quick. When you cover that kind of ground, it's psychologically hard work for the others to get there.”
Quickthorn is a homebred for Lord and Lady Blyth's Lemington Grange Stud and is the best of five winners from Daffydowndilly, a winning Oasis Dream daughter of stakes-winner Art Eyes. He is the seventh Group I winner among 31 stakes-winners sired by Galileo son Nathaniel, a former sparring partner on the track for Frankel.
Nathaniel stands at Newsells Park at a fee of 15,000 pounds.
