Can Enfjaar continue on an upward curve for Roger Varian in wide-open Goodwood curtain-raiser?

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Enfjaar has the profile of a horse who could be plying his trade in Group company before the end of the season.

Connections tried him in a Group 3 as a three-year-old when he tackled the Jersey Stakes over 7f.

He finished well beaten, but the step up to around 1m2f this term has coincided with Enfjaar making rapid progress and he goes into this £100,000 curtain-raiser to five glorious days on the back of comfortable wins in Class 3 and 2 handicaps.

The gelding is 6lb higher than when landing York’s 20-runner John Smith’s Cup just over a fortnight ago and competes off a career-high mark of 105. However, it is unlikely he has reached his ceiling just yet and the hat-trick looks well within his reach.

The Johnston stable, synonymous with success at this meeting, is three-handed as it targets a fifth Chesterfield Cup since 2014.

Wadacre Gomez, the mount of William Buick, may prove the pick even though most of his form is on an all-weather surface. The four-year-old, winner of seven of his 19 races on sand, may lack the sexy profile of Enfjaar but still looks to be improving.

Crack Shot, who ran well in a three-year-old handicap at this meeting 12 months ago, finished nine and a quarter lengths behind Enfjaar at York.

The son of Kingman is 8lb better off at the weights and has an excellent draw to work from in stall two. All three of his wins have come when prominently ridden and it would be no surprise to see him get closer to Enfjaar this time.

Real Gain, who has dropped 3lb for two defeats over a mile since being gelded over the winter, is another who merits close consideration now he goes back up in trip.
Race analysis by Richard Birch

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What they say

Angus Gold, racing manager to Shadwell Estates, owners of Enfjaar
He's looking good. He's come back really well with his two wins this year and won impressively at York the other day. This looked the next logical step, but it's a different sort of track to what he's run on recently.

Alastair Donald, racing manager to owners of Teumessias Fox and Aerion Power
We're looking forward to it. Teumessias Fox an better than the result suggests last time and ten furlongs with a strong pace at Goodwood should suit. Aerion Power was on the wrong side at Ascot but we're looking forward to stepping him up in distance. Stall 15 is a slightly trickier draw for him but he tends to go back anyway. It's obviously a very open race.

Charlie Johnston, trainer of Killybegs Warrior, Wadacre Gomez and Loyal Touch
Killybegs Warrior has been set some tough tasks since his run in the Rosebery. He found himself very high in the weights but he's coming back down to a mark he can be competitive off. Hopefully he'll get his ground for the first time in a while too. Wadacre Gomez has had a very good year but he's now reached a level where we've run out of races at Chelmsford, which is where he's reserved his best form. If he can translate that all-weather form to the turf then he can be progressive. Loyal Touch has had a good year, he's run some good races and didn't have a race last week so he's in good order.

Karl Burke, trainer of Bystander
He's in good form and has a good draw, but I'm not sure how well the track will play to his strengths. There's not another handicap like this for him for a while so he'll take his chance.

Ed Walker, trainer of Crack Shot
He's been a bit disappointing since getting the season off to a perfect start, I thought we'd really rock and roll with him after Newmarket. He's very well and we've had no excuses for his poor runs recently but he's got to bounce back. Hopefully he can show his true colours and run a big race.
Reporting by Liam Headd

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