VIDEO: Battalion battles to win Goodwood feature race

BATTALION took Goodwood’s Foundation Stakes to give trainer William Haggas his fifth success of the season at the racecourse.
Battalion holds off Wannabe Yours to take the Foundation Stakes  Picture by Malcolm Wells 150923-172119006Battalion holds off Wannabe Yours to take the Foundation Stakes  Picture by Malcolm Wells 150923-172119006
Battalion holds off Wannabe Yours to take the Foundation Stakes Picture by Malcolm Wells 150923-172119006

Pat Cosgrave - who has now also recorded five wins at Goodwood this season - held off the challenge of Qatar Goodwood Festival winner Wannabe Yours to take the £40,00 Front Events-sponsored contest by just three-quarters of a length at the track’s penultimate meeting of 2015.

It was a fairly low-key afternoon as the season winds towards its finale but nonetheless there were some competitive races on show.

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The seven-race card opened with a win for trainer Alan King, more commonly seen sending horses over the jumps, as Fergus Sweeney guided Inn The Bull to victory in the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes at odds of 7/1.

Godolphin’s Good Run justified 8/11 favouritism to take the EBF Stallions Maiden Stakes under James Doyle for Saeed bin Suroor, while Revision was an 11/2 winner of the Caterers Day Stakes for Kieren Fox and John Best.

Favourite-followers were in luck again when Scrutinise (Ed Dunlop/Paul Hanagan) took a close finish in the Universal Meats Chicken Stakes handicap.

A photo finish in the Bidvest Foodservice Stakes saw the nod given to Divine Call, a 20/1 shot ridden by Franny Norton for handler Milton Bradley.

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The last, the Goodwood Ale Apprentice Stakes, went to Threave (as tipped on this website), ridden by Gary Mahon for Jo Crowley.

Battalion holds off Wannabe Yours to take the Foundation Stakes  Picture by Malcolm Wells 150923-172119006Battalion holds off Wannabe Yours to take the Foundation Stakes  Picture by Malcolm Wells 150923-172119006
Battalion holds off Wannabe Yours to take the Foundation Stakes Picture by Malcolm Wells 150923-172119006

There was a nasty fall straight after the stalls opened for young Megan Nicholls, but she was soon sitting up after taking a kick from her horse after she was unseated.

There’s just one more meeting left at Goodwood this season - on Sunday, October 11.

Barring something remarkable, that day will see Richard Hannon and Richard Hughes the track’s season’s leading trainer and jockey once more - especially impressive for Hughes given that he retired at the end of the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

STEVE BONE

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