ITV Racing Tips: Hammer The Hammer can nail the Stewards Cup at Glorious Goodwood

Day five of Glorious Goodwood is headlined by the always competitive Stewards’ Cup, with a field of 28 sprinters due to line up in the six-furlong handicap.

The feature race, due off at 15:05, is one of seven on a busy afternoon on the Sussex Downs and the ITV Racing team are in situ once more with the first five races live on their ITV1 broadcast from 13:00-16:00.

Our racing expert has picked out three horses to follow on the terrestrial offering from day five of Glorious Goodwood.

Tip 1: French Duke - Summer Handicap (13:55) @ 4/1

The second contest on day five at Goodwood is a competitive staying handicap over a mile and six furlongs, which has been won in recent years by future Group-class stayers Trawlerman and Sweet William.

One who stands out is the Roger Varian-trained FRENCH DUKE, who is completely unexposed at this distance.

The Wathnan Racing-owned four-year-old shaped incredibly well in the King George V Stakes last year, pulling hard throughout and covering more ground than any other rival in racing wide, but still travelling strongly into the straight before tiring late on.

He improved for the fitting of a hood afterwards, doing good, late work to win a handicap at the Glorious meeting last year before running a career-best in second on soft ground at Ascot, recording a Racing Post Rating of 107.

He was given too much to do in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes last time, but he again shaped as if he'd be worth a go over further. A mark of 98 doesn’t look beyond him, especially as he could find even more improvement at this distance.

Tip 2: Hammer The Hammer - Stewards’ Cup (15:05) @ 6/1

The feature race is the Stewards’ Cup and, while there are 28 runners in the field, HAMMER THE HAMMER could take some pegging back from what looks to be a good draw in stall four.

The Kevin Ryan-trained three-year-old has progressed well on the all-weather this year and blew his rivals away when upped to 6f on his handicap debut at Southwell in April, making all for an impressive six-length success.

He defied a 13lb rise with ease at Chester next time, making light of stall 10 to make all, before going down by just a length off top weight in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes at Royal Ascot after another 12lb hike. That was despite the drop in trip and fast ground probably not being ideal.

His jockey reported afterwards that he would probably prefer some juice in the ground, which he’ll get here, and the return to six furlongs is also a positive. He’s got lots of early pace and could prove to be better than a handicapper in time.

Tip 3: Spirit Of Farhh - Whispering Angel Handicap (15:45) @ 20/1

The ground is drying out all the time, but there should still be plenty of juice when SPIRIT OF FARHH tackles the seven-furlong handicap.

A half-brother to the yard’s useful sprinter Bobsleigh, the son of Far Above showed plenty of ability on soft ground as a juvenile and all that form has worked out extremely well.

He was beaten just a neck by subsequent Listed winner and Friday’s Group 3 runner-up Diego Ventura on his debut and finished a close third behind the now 94-rated Fast Track Harry and the 104-rated Almeraq next time. He got off the mark at Newbury in October, when he had the now 106-rated Marvelman in second.

He won a Newmarket handicap last time on his first start with an ease in the ground since and looks underestimated in the betting, given he could prove a lot better than his 6lb higher mark in conditions that should suit him well.