The going at Goodwood is likely to remain soft, certainly it will have some juice in the ground, meaning that is one angle we’d had to take ahead of another competitive-looking £250,000 Stewards’ Cup.

There will always be conjecture regarding the draw here, but there should be pace right across the track. The usual mix of rock-solid handicappers and up-and-coming young things appear among the full field of 28, with these six being the ones we’ve taken against the field:

Main Contenders

Aleezdancer

Drawn on the far side is Aleezdancer of the more than capable Kevin Ryan yard. This horse has run 21 times now, finishing 10th of 21 three starts ago and then last on each of his most recent outings.

What we cannot ignore however is that Aleezdancer is only a four-year-old and is most likely improving overall. As recently as April this year he was very impressive in winning a six-furlong handicap at Doncaster on soft ground during the Lincoln meeting and on that he has a major chance.

Badri

Ruth Carr’s six-year-old Badri is drawn in 18 which recent history tells us may be a good starting position.

Badri is a veteran gelding of some 60 starts, most recently finishing a staying-on second in a five-furlong handicap at Ascot which entitles him to plenty of respect in this line-up. He won at Epsom in June and between those two runs was sent off favourite for the Gosforth Park Cup.

He likes a bit of cut in the ground and by all accounts will be staying on when plenty in the field have given up which should put him in with some sort of a chance.

Bielsa

We all know Bielsa, winner of an Ayr Gold Cup as well as good races at York and Doncaster.

There are outstanding positives and negatives about Bielsa’s form right now. On the downside, he doesn’t win often at all and did so two runs ago at York meaning that it could be some time before his turn comes round again.

On the plus side; he is running very consistently indeed, essentially running more or less to form on eight of his last 9 outings meaning he is a horse backers can rely on to give them a run.

From gate 26 and with Ryan Moore aboard, he would not be a terribly surprising winner.

Orazio

The ante-post favourite and the horse with the most obvious chance of all.

After missing a year and a half with injury, Orazio returned this season as a four-year-old at Kempton which warmed him up well for the Craven meeting. There, he was impressive in landing a competitive handicap on softish ground before hacking up at Ascot on even deeper going.

He was handed a mark of 102 for that Ascot success, though we measure it more like 107. Considering he is improving and that was some 12 weeks ago, we reckon he goes into the 110+ category now, a Group horse essentially, meaning his actual mark of 102 for this race grossly underestimates him.

Man of the moment Jim Crowley takes the ride for trainer Charlie Hills.

Significantly

Julie Camacho is finally being recognised for the excellent trainer she is thanks to her Group 1 champ Shaquille. Clearly, training sprinters is a strength, so it was no surprise to us to see how Significantly is being handled.

This five-year-old has run 27 times but he has been with Camacho only since May. In that time, he has run fourth at Ayr, won at Haydock and been runner-up at Ascot.

Going back up to six furlongs on this ground, coming from stall 28 and having Joe Fanning on board are all positives and we reckon he has a major shout.

Vintage Clarets

Having been 10/1 for a valuable handicap at the Curragh, it was no surprise to us to see Richard Fahey’s sprinter win the Gosforth Park Cup when he was re-routed to Newcastle.

He has already run here this week but he remains in strong form and can go well once again.

Summary

By our reckoning, with all angles explored as much as possible, there may not be a whole lot to choose from between Aleezdancer, Bielsa, Badri and Vintage Clarets.

The two who stood out more were ORAZIO and, somewhat less obviously, SIGNIFICANTLY and it can pay to dutch the stakes and back them both.

Significantly in particular is a fancy price at the time of writing, though both horses still look well handicapped and each can make their presence felt.