Punters out to draw the teeth of an intimidating beast

The Stewards' Cup is an intimidating beast, a 26 runner-strong puzzle that threatens to perplex and confound, but the betting highlight of Glorious Goodwood is not the monster it first appears – it is, perhaps, a Gordian knot that can be sliced straight through.

Since 2000 this six-furlong cavalry charge has been won on nine occasions by a horse priced in single figures. For those short of time to devote to in-depth analysis of the form of 26 runners this statistic is a potential godsend: it reduces the pool of runners to be considered to just two. If only all races were so simple to solve.

So which celestially named sprinter will it be, Orion's Bow or Dancing Star? The romantics among the crowd will surely opt for Dancing Star, who promises to bring back memories of the sprinting great Lochsong, that immensely popular star of the early 1990s who won big-field sprints for fun. Like Lochsong, Dancing Star races in the colours of Jeff Smith and hails from Kingsclere Stables, where a Balding – not Lochsong's Ian but his son Andrew – still trains.