Goodwood bosses delighted by big-race entries

Minding with jockey Ryan Moore after winning the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket / Picture by Mark Westley

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Entries are being revealed for many of the big races at this year's Glorious Goodwood - and racecourse bosses are delighted with their quality and quantity.

Here is a full race-by-race rundown of entries so far:

Qatar Nassau Stakes

The £600,000 Qatar Nassau Stakes, the Group One highlight on the final day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Saturday, July 30, has attracted a high-class entry of 37 (up from 34 in 2015), details of which are revealed today.

Staged over just short of 10 furlongs, the Qatar Nassau Stakes is Europe’s richest race for fillies and mares, thanks to the 10-year Qatar sponsorship agreement which commenced last year.

A plethora of Group One winners feature among the 2016 entries, headed by Minding (Aidan O’Brien), who is already a dual top-level achiever this year after winning the mile British Classic, the QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, and scoring over half a mile further in the other British fillies’ Classic, the Investec Oaks, at Epsom Downs where she saw off the challenge of Architecture (Hugo Palmer).

Minding is one of 12 entries for Ireland’s champion Flat trainer Aidan O’Brien, with Breeders’ Cup Turf heroine Found, recent Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes scorer Even Song and Group One Prix Marcel Boussac scorer Ballydoyle also featuring prominently. O’Brien is chasing a third Qatar Nassau Stakes success following on from Peeping Fawn (2007) and Halfway To Heaven (2008).

Two entries hail from France, both owned by Al Shaqab Racing and trained by the in-form Jean Claude Rouget. They are Qemah, successful in the mile Group One Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 17, and Jemayel, who took the 10-furlong Group One Prix Saint-Alary at Deauville in May before suffering trouble in running when ninth in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly on June 19.

Newmarket-based John Gosden has made the Qatar Nassau Stakes his own in recent seasons, landing the valuable prize in three of the past four years with The Fugue (2012), Winsili (2013) and Sultanina (2014).

His eight entries this year include Furia Cruzada, a multiple Grade One winner in South America who was runner-up to Usherette in the Group Two Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot last week, plus Journey, Jazzi Top and Nathra who have been placed at Group One level. Another possible Gosden representative is Persuasive, victorious in the Listed Sandringham Handicap at Royal Ascot last week.

Other entries include Arabian Queen (David Elsworth), who became the first of only two horses to defeat the mighty Golden Horn when successful in the Juddmonte International at York last season, and Godolphin’s Very Special (Saeed bin Suroor), a dual Group Two winner in Dubai.

There are 13 Irish-trained entries in total. In addition to the dozen from Ballydoyle, Jim Bolger has entered the Godolphin-owned Lucida, runner-up in last season’s QIPCO 1000 Guineas.

The 2015 Qatar Nassau Stakes winner Legatissimo ended the year as the second-highest rated European-trained three-year-old filly behind Found.

There is a scratchings deadline for the Qatar Nassau Stakes on July 5, with the five-day confirmation and £40,000 supplementary entry stage following on Monday, July 25.

The Qatar Nassau Stakes is part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

Click here to read our earlier story on entries for the £1m Qatar Sussex Stakes

Qatar Lennox Stakes