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The opening day of Glorious Goodwood is in the books and it was a good day to play against the favorites. Only Strong Suit, winner of the Group 2 Lennox Stakes, was able to succeed as the choice of the crowd, while the other six races saw winners from 6/1 to 20/1.
If the data at PedigreeQuery.com is correct (and it usually is), Strong Suit is Arkansas-bred three-year-old son of Rahy out of a Silver Hawk mare (Helwa). Arkansas-bred. Really.
Strong Suit was full of run in the early stages of the Lennox as he pulled hard on the reigns will traveling in third. Coming off the turn he moved into a perfect stalking position behind the lead where he was content to wait until they moved inside the final furlong. When jockey Richard Hughes asked for more run Strong Suit responded with powerful and easy move to the lead. At that point, the rest of the field were being asked for everything they had but it was to no avail; Strong Suit coasted home under a hand ride.
Beacon Lodge (IRE) made a huge run in the final 1/2 furlong to almost nab the second spot but was entirely too late to challenge the winner.
You can view a replay of the Lennox Stakes (via RacingUK.com's YouTube site) at the bottom of this post.
Tomorrow's card at Goodwood will feature the Group 1 Sussex Stakes clash between Frankel (GB) and Canford Cliffs (IRE).
| # | Race | Dist. | Winner | Odds | Time |
| 1 | bet365.com Stakes | 10f | Arelequin (GB) | 20/1 | 2:05.93 |
| 2 | G3-Gordon Stakes | 12f | Namibian (IRE) | 7/1 | 2:39.55 |
| 3 | G2-Lennox Stakes | 7f | Strong Suit | 5/2 | 1:25.65 |
| 4 | G3-Molecomb Stakes | 5f | Requinto (IRE) | 6/1 | 57.51 |
| 5 | Maiden Stakes | 6f | Moustache (IRE) | 6/1 | 1:12.52 |
| 6 | Poker@bet365 Stakes | 8f | Red Gulch (GB) | 16/1 | 1:38.09 |
| 7 | Mobile@bet365 Stakes | 5f | Secret Asset (IRE) | 14/1 | 57.57 |
The ground was rated "GOOD" for the first day of the meeting but it appears that the course was on the slow side for most of the day. Every race on the card saw a final time that was at least one second slower than the standard, with the exception being the two races carded at five furlongs, which were slow by about a 1/2 second.
Group 2 Lennox Stakes Video