Goldie gets his reward with glorious Goodwood victory

Scottish trainer Jim Goldie scored the most prestigious victory of his career when Hawkeyethenoo won the Blue Square Bet Stewards Cup at Glorious Goodwood yesterday.

The win was a triumph for Goldie and Graham Lee, the Grand National-winning jockey who has switched to the Flat with such success.

Always travelling strongly on the far side of the track the six-year-old quickened to the lead inside the final furlong. Imperial Guest came with a strong challenge down the centre of the track as the line approached, but Hawkeyethenoo stayed on strongest of all to land the prestigious handicap by a nose. Lu Rei (20-1) was third, just ahead of the well-backed 7-1 favourite Waffle.

Goldie’s biggest win confirmed his status as a top trainer, and was also an overdue major success for Hawkeyethenoo, who was third in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and fifth in the July Cup at Newmarket.

He was backed into 9-1, and his shrewd owning syndicate will no doubt have had a few bawbees on.

The £62,250 prize money won by Goldie yesterday was the second biggest win pot ever pocketed by a Scottish trainer on the Flat.

Goldie said: “He’s a terrific horse. He has been very unlucky this year, so it’s a good race to get a bit of luck.

“He carried a lot of weight and it will be interesting to see where we go next. He’s in the Haydock race (Betfred Sprint Cup) and the obvious race we’d like to win is the Ayr Gold Cup, but we never seem to get our ground there. I’ve used Graham since the start of his career and he’s ridden a terrific race today.”