Higgins pots Goodwood prize
Wednesday 1 August 2012
Goodwood Stakes replay and result:
1 Hurricane Higgins (J Fanning) 14-1
2 Defence Of Duress (J P Spencer) 25-1
3 Never Can Tell (L Dettori) 10-1
Hurricane Higgins held off the late thrust of Irish raider Defence Of Duress to take the Goodwood Stakes for Mark Johnston.
The Middleham maestro struck with Landaman in the opening contest of Glorious Goodwood on Tuesday and joint top-weight Hurricane Higgins was a 14-1 shot to add to his tally in the hands of Joe Fanning.
Hurricane Higgins and Never Can Tell looked to have it between them and just as Hurricane Higgins began to win that argument, Defence Of Duress finished with a wet sail down the outside. Tom Taaffe's runner was closing all the way to the line, but Hurricane Higgins held on by a head.
Fanning said: "He pulled up a little bit when I got to the front but he stayed well and he's done it well. He was stepping right up in trip but he failed a stalls test last week so that's why Mark brought him here for the flip (tape) start. He's pretty good in the stalls but when he gets in there he lies down."
Johnston confirmed Hurricane Higgins had only run in the two-mile-five-furlong contest because it was started by a flip-start rather than using stalls.
He said: "The horse has had some stalls issues. He was a bit of a character and he doesn't always give his best. He was declared for Ascot on Friday, but he decided to lay down in the stalls during a stalls test, so here he is today.
"He's often let himself down and Joe said when he hit the front he was trying to stop and he should maybe have sat on him even longer. It's still great that he's won and it's great to have another winner at what I think is the greatest spectator track in the world."
Title-chasing jockey Ryan Moore was stood down after suffering a fall from Romeo Montague. The Ed Dunlop-trained four-year-old slipped up and catapulted Moore into the turf. He soon rose to his feet and walked back into the weighing room but was taken to hospital as a precaution with soft tissue damage.
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