Stradivarius heavily favored to repeat in Goodwood Cup

Stradivarius has rapidly ascended to the position of Europe’s best staying racehorse, and no one is expecting him to sink anytime soon.

Just a 4-year-old, Stradivarius is odds-on to capture his third straight win this season when he starts in the Group 1 Goodwood Cup on Tuesday. The featured event on opening day at Glorious Goodwood is carded as race 4 of seven with a scheduled post time of 10:35 a.m. Eastern. The capable 6-year-old Torcedor opposes him, but neither Order of St. George, the last horse to beat Stradivarius, nor Vazirabad, who was second to Stradivarius by a half-length in the Gold Cup last month at Ascot, are among his rivals in the two-mile fixture.

It was in the 2017 Goodwood Cup that 3-year-old Stradivarius showed just how much staying power was under his hood: A 6-1 shot, he won last year’s renewal by 1 3/4 lengths over the highly capable Big Orange, albeit with help from a 15-pound break in the weights.

Tuesday, Stradivarius totes 135 pounds – same as all the older horses – including jockey Andrea Atzeni, who replaces the suspended Frankie Dettori. Stradivarius appears to prefer fast ground to soft, and the good, good-to-firm conditions expected Tuesday should keep him well enough on top of the course not to cause any difficulties.

Torcedor ended his 5-year-old campaign last year like a horse to watch in 2018, but began his season finishing last of 16 in the Dubai Gold Cup. He rebounded to win the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes by five lengths before his third in the Gold Cup, and Torcedor should not at all mind cutting back from 2 1/2 miles to the less daunting two-mile trip of the Goodwood Cup.

Also entered is Call To Mind, whose last race produced an emphatic score in the Gold Cup at Belmont Park, but Call To Mind was no match for Stradivarius when they met in the spring. Possibly, no one will be this year.