2024 Glorious Goodwood Betting Odds

With billions of pounds turned over annually on the sport of kings, horse racing really is one of the most popular events for punters to place a wager, be that midweek low-grade racing or at the other end of the spectrum such as the glamourous flat meeting that is the Qatar Goodwood Festival, or otherwise affectionately known as Glorious Goodwood.

There are vast opportunities for people to get involved in horse racing betting, meaning that the wide array of markets available can suit different people’s interests.

There are multiple race meetings on virtually every day of the year while the major race meetings such as Goodwood only come round once a year meaning there is excitement and trepidation all year round in anticipation.

Along with the sheer quantity of racing on offer, there are also many different types of bets available for punters to delve into such as the number of lengths a horse is victorious by, or the exact finishing order of horses taking home gold, silver, and bronze.

However, the main form of betting is simply to back a horse to win – otherwise known as a straight bet – which at Goodwood can mean just as much to a winning backer as seeing their favourite horse that they have followed all season cross the finishing line with their head in front.

Glorious Goodwood

Glorious Goodwood is a real highlight of the Flat racing calendar. Due to it coming in peak summertime it’s a staple date in the fashion world, so it’s not just one for race fanatics.

Date	26 – 30 July 2022
Location	Chichester, West Sussex
Track	Goodwood Racecourse
Inaugurated	1802
Race Type	Flat Racing
Purse	£4.8 million (2021)

The 2023 edition of Glorious Goodwood will be staged over Tuesday – Saturday in the last week of July, where good weather can be guaranteed (or at least as close to a guarantee you can find on these shores!)

Glorious Goodwood, for all its pomp and ceremony, also has the ability to attract some of the best horses from Britain and Ireland, as well as France, to compete at the south coast course.

Most notably the festival is headlined by three standout Group 1 races – The Goodwood Cup, The Sussex Stakes, and The Nassau Stakes. These races in particular, as is the case with most Group 1 classified races, really do attract the best and brightest around.

There are 13 Group races on display over the week and a feature handicap known as the Stewards Cup, which is run over the 6f straight at Goodwood.

One of the most important parts of Glorious Goodwood is its setting, often referred to as the most beautiful racecourse in the country.

It has been hosting racing since as far as back as 1802, and it grew in popularity through the nineteenth century where it became affectionately known as Glorious Goodwood.

King Edward VII was seen at Sussex track almost every year and famously dubbed the meeting as ‘a garden party with racing tacked on.’

Today, the racecourse welcomes over 100,000 racegoers during the annual Festival.

Betting Strategy For Glorious Goodwood

It’s no surprise given the quality that is on show at Goodwood that it can be hard to find winners with value.

Horses may have proven themselves throughout the season at different tracks but when they arrive at Goodwood, they can find the course not to their liking.

So, when it comes to punting at the south coast track, it is important to have a clear strategy be that in the shape of course form, race trends, or owner/trainer/jockey combinations.

One way of finding that value can be in accumulators. This is where you can find multiple horses that you believe to have a good chance and you deem them worthy favourites but unfortunately their price might be too short, and the stake required to see a good return unappealing.

If you could combine these fancied favourites into an accumulator then you are likely to see a greater return and value on offer, particularly at a multiple day meeting like Goodwood, one of these punts could see you through the whole week where hopefully you will be cheering something on come the last day.

While this strategy does have its drawbacks in that you are required to pick multiple winners, it is important to note that this can be a key tactic in making the most out of short-priced favourites if you fancy them to oblige.

Another strategy that could pay dividends is to look at each-way prices in Goodwood’s handicap races. These races usually attract big fields and for shrewd punters they might be able to spot one that’s ahead of its mark. The beauty of an each-way bet, however, is that the horse only needs to be placed for you to see a return.

At Goodwood it can pay to look at trends from years gone by, trainers and some notable owners can favour certain races against others, particularly in the handicaps and will campaign their runners throughout the season the same as successful horses previously.

The highly successful trainer, Mark Johnston, is always one to bear in mind at this meeting. He has a vast number of horses in his care and loves to send down well-handicapped horses from his Yorkshire base to plunder the big prizes on offer.

Notable Winners At Glorious Goodwood

The aforementioned three Group 1 races have attracted some of the biggest superstars in the equine world over the years and none have more of a globally renowned and recognised reputation than Frankel.

Any race that can be associated with one of the finest horses to grace a racetrack is worthy of note on the world stage.

The notorious son of Galileo was a twice winner of the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, which is the feature race at Glorious Goodwood, and is one of the premier targets for the world’s best milers.

Frankel took the race in consecutive years in 2011 and 2012, becoming the only horse to ever achieve the feat of winning it twice, showing just why he is the highest ever rated horse on the turf.

Over the years, the best of the best have competed over this trip at the Sussex Down’s course including Brigadier Gerard who won the race in 1971, and he is widely considered the champion racehorse of his generation.

The Goodwood Cup has also played host to notable winners over the years, and with it being first run in 1808 it is one of the leading staying races in the country.

Double Trigger famously won the race three times in the 1990’s making the trip from his native Yorkshire.

Arguably one of the most famous racehorses to compete at Goodwood was Kincsem, a Hungarian horse that won the Goodwood Cup in 1878. Kincsem had a blistering career and was unbeaten in a staggering and unparalleled 54 races.

Possibly the greatest race in the modern history of Goodwood came in the Nassau Stakes in 2006. This is Glorious Goodwood’s third Group 1 race, and its all about the fillies.

On this occasion in 2006, it was The Earl of Derby’s Ouija Board – one of the superstars on the international circuit – taking on Alexandra Goldrun, who came into the race as the previous year’s winner.

The two fillies fought it out all the way down the Goodwood straight with Ouija Board eventually winning in the closest of photo finishes.

Notable Goodwood Stories

Where better to start with notable Goodwood stories than the origins of Goodwood itself? As a racecourse that is so steeped in history it seems only right to go back to the very beginning.

The fifth Duke of Richmond is where the Goodwood story really starts. He was a prominent owner and his first success at Goodwood came some fifteen years after racing had begun at the course.

This success came about in a match race in 1817 and it was his horse Roncesvalles, a winner of six races, which broke the Duke’s maiden.

In 1823 the Duke had an even greater taste for the sport and installed a private trainer in the grounds, that man was John Kent who was later succeeded by his son of the same name.

Later in the year, the Duke won the first running of the Goodwood Stakes with Dandizette, and some four years later he bagged his first Classic success with Gulnare in the Oaks, while also landing the Goodwood Cup.

It’s important to note the Duke’s success as an owner as it could be argued that he is single handily responsible for Goodwood as it is today.

Horse Racing Handicapping At Goodwood

Alongside Glorious Goodwood’s 13 Group races, there are also a plethora of handicaps to get stuck into.

These handicap races mean that each horse will arrive with an official rating which determines how much weight they will be required to wear when running.

The best horse will carry the most weight while the perceived weakest horse will carry the least amount of weight.

The theory of handicapping horses is so that each race becomes a level playing field and enables each runner to have the best possible chance of victory.

For punters, the aim is to try and find a horse that is actually better than its rating and is therefore what’s known as ‘well-handicapped’.

In essence, the horse is running with less weight than it should do and so it has a better chance of winning than its rating suggests.

Popular Horse Racing Bets

There are many different types of bets in horse racing and when deciding to bet on a race it is important to note this as a horse doesn’t always need to find itself in the winners’ enclosure for punters to see a return on their stake.

The most common bet is a straight bet which is when you are simply betting on something to happen and in the case of horse racing, you are betting on a horse to win a race.

Another common wager type is a forecast. This requires you to pick the first and second horses to finish in a race. This can be a straight forecast which is the 1-2 in the correct order, or a reverse forecast which is where it doesn’t matter what order the selected horses finish in.

The final commonly used bet type is a tricast. The aim of this type of bet is to back the three horses that finish first, second and third in a selected race. This is obviously very tricky so the returns for punters can be significantly higher than other bet types.