Clarification regarding Good Eye in Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood

Svensk Galopp has been questioned regarding comments given by the trainer of Good Eye, Jessica Long, after the performance in Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood, Saturday 30th July 2022. Unfortunately, there has been some misinterpretation of the interview given by Jessica Long regarding Good Eye, who finished fourth in the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood.

After the race, the trainer is reported in the Racing Post as saying that:

"We thought, 'Why not?'. Our handicapper in Sweden has always been accused of keeping us a bit high in the handicap, but he did call me in the week and said, 'Why didn't you tell me you were running – I'd have dropped you a few pounds!'.

"I said, 'It's too late now!'. We obviously knew we were close to the cut-off point and didn't want to miss out by being too low anyway. It was a bit of a Catch-22."

We would like to clarify that the trainer had been in contact with the Scandinavian handicapper who mentioned that in his opinion the horse had been showing 1-2 pounds lower than the actual official rating of 97.

It is important to stress that it is the BHA handicapper who sets the figures for racing in England. Usually, a foreign handicapper would contact the Scandinavian handicapper before a race abroad and request an opinion of a horse. However, what is unusual about Good Eye’s performances in 2022 is that he hasn’t races in Sweden this year. Instead, the gelding has run three times in Germany and once in France prior to his run on Saturday in Britain.

In the opinion of the Scandinavian handicapper, based on the later performance, he would have set a handicap of 95 or 96 had Good Eye returned to Scandinavia. This would have been the information if it had been requested. Though, it would always have been up to the BHA to set the official rating of the horse.

It is also worth mentioning that the weights for the Stewards Cup were published on June 29th, about 12 days before Good Eye’s penultimate run in France.

Separately, in the aftermath of the Thoroughbred Stakes (G3) at Goodwood Friday involving the Norwegian raider Hotline Bling it has been mentioned, by the horse’s connections, that the result would have been different in Scandinavia. The Scandinavian Rule committee can confirm that the interference rules in Scandinavia are the same interference rules as England – known as Category 1 rules – and therefore the result of the inquiry would have been exactly the same in all three Scandinavian countries as it was at Goodwood. All major racing nations other than the US and Canada utilize Category 1 interference rules.