Five Top Tips for Saturday’s Racing
In-form trainer William Haggas is fancied to double up with Al Aasy and Term Of Endearment during a bumper horse racing Saturday.
Jim Crowley riding Al Aasy to win the 2024 Glorious Stakes at Goodwood. © Getty Images
- Saturday is a bumper day for horse racing.
- Haggas pair fancied to go back-to-back at Goodwood.
- 40/1 Twilight Calls can turn back the clock in the Stewards Cup.
- Harrington’s Hotazhell’s can deliver Grade-1 success Stateside.
With injuries, torrential rain and enormously priced winners, Glorious Goodwood has been anything but glorious in 2025. But the show goes on, and quality and quantity will be on display at the Sussex racecourse’s final festival day on Saturday.
Additional domestic meetings at Newmarket, Thirsk, Doncaster, Hamilton and Lingfield give punters ample betting opportunities. Furthermore, with flat and hurdle races, the Galway Festival is entering its penultimate day in Ireland.
Stateside, Saratoga has an excellent card featuring four Grade-1 races where European fans will be interested in Jessica Harrington’s Irish 1000 Guineas third, Hotazhell, in the Saratoga Derby. Frankie Dettori is also in action and rides another Irish hopeful.
Al Aasy for a Glorious Repeat?
The glut of races should make finding a winner relatively straightforward. However, changeable ground conditions could cloud the issue, and the feature meetings have large fields.
One horse that has won on all ground types and faces just six rivals is the admirable veteran, Al Aasy. Resultingly, the eight-year-old is strongly fancied to land Goodwood’s opening contest, the Group-3 Coral Glorious Stakes.
Successful in this contest 12 months ago and a winner in Group race company seven times, Jim Crowley’s mount is officially the highest rated horse in this 12-furlong race. His trainer, William Haggas, is enjoying a rich vein of form with nine winners during the past week.
Love Term of Endearment
Despite contesting the opening race on a busy day, Al Aasy (1.20 pm) deserves nap status. As for a next-best, his stablemate, Term Of Endearment, in Goodwood’s Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes (2.30 pm) is chosen for similar reasons.
Like Al Aasy, Term Of Endearment is seeking a second success in her assigned contest, and she, too, has won on contrasting surfaces. The six-year-old will need to put two disappointing runs behind her, but she could be ready to hit peak form with her stable on its best streak of the season.
What a darling! TERM OF ENDEARMENT (GB) got up just in time to win @Goodwood_Races's Lillie Langtry Stakes (G2) under @wjlee24786 for @HenrydeBromhead.pic.twitter.com/Tex5dXpSCQ
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) August 3, 2024
Cup Call for 40/1 Twilight
The Stewards Cup, due off at 3.05 pm, is a very popular contest and presents form experts with a challenge they relish. Nevertheless, with 28 runners and a potential draw bias, this year’s race may have more appeal to lottery players!
Our pin lands in Twilight Calls, quoted on 40/1 odds by the UK’s best online betting sites, this gelding has been given some impossible tasks this season.
However, he finished second in a Group-1 contest in his younger years and has slipped 13 pounds down the handicap since.
By the sire Twilight Son – who has already produced a Goodwood winning sprinter on heavy ground this week (Thursday’s scorer Naana’s Sparkle) – Twilight Calls might be able to roll back the years and stake a claim on this six-furlong cavalry charge.
Si Grass Makes Sense at Newmarket
Newmarket’s Pat Smullen Memorial Fillies’ Novice Stakes (2.45 pm) appears a weak race by the course’s usual standards. The runners with previous form have achieved very little, meaning the contest will likely go to a newcomer.
Charlie Johnston, who boasts seven individual two-year-old winners on turf this year, sends just one runner to Newmarket from his North Yorkshire base, and it, the well-bred Si Grass, would appear to have a solid chance in this seven-furlong event.
Jesse’s Star to Put Heat on US Rivals
In New York’s Saratoga racetrack, Ireland’s Jessica Harrington has an outstanding opportunity to claim her first North American Grade-1 race. The hugely talented trainer has found a good opening for Hotazhell, who has faced top-class opposition in his two outings as a three-year-old.
A Group-1 winner as a juvenile, Hotazhell’s appearance in the Coral Eclipse Stakes suggested Saturday’s trip will be ideal for the Irish 2000 Guineas third. And, as the US’s preferred surface is dirt, Saturday night’s opposition can be considered far weaker than anything he has faced in any part of the past 12 months.
Saturday’s Best Bets
- Al Aasy – 1.20 pm Goodwood
- Term Of Endearment- 2.30 pm Goodwood
- Twilight Calls (each way) – 3.45 pm Goodwood
- Si Grass – 2.45 pm Newmarket
- Hotazhell – 9.29 pm Saratoga
