Sweet William seals Summer success in style

Goodwood winner cut for Ebor date, although he is not yet a certain runner.

Sweet William’s rapid progression continued apace at Goodwood with another smooth success in the Coral Summer Handicap.

John and Thady Gosden’s stayer finished second on his first three outings, admittedly never beaten far, but has come into his own in recent weeks.

He opened his account in a mile-and-a-half Doncaster novice before landing a valuable pot when upped to an extended two miles at Newbury last time out.

Sent off the 9-4 favourite to bring up his hat-trick, his supports never really had much to worry about.

Having moved into contention smoothly to take over from Torcello at the head of affairs, Adjuvant appeared as a threat.

With Rab Havlin maintaining his partnership on Sweet William, it was Frankie Dettori who he had to beat on Michael Bell’s charge, but when Sweet William’s stamina kicked in the race was over.

He ended up pulling two and three-quarter lengths clear and while bookmakers were quick to chop his price for the Sky Bet Ebor, his owner Philippa Cooper had previously stated she is not a huge fan of the race.

Sweet William returns to the winner's enclosure at Goodwood
Sweet William returns to the winner’s enclosure at Goodwood (PA)

However, John Gosden would be eager to run at York next month, with Sweet William the 5-1 favourite with the Ebor sponsor.

He said: “He only ran a fortnight ago at Newbury, he’s fresh and well and has won again decisively which is great.

“He’s a lot of fun to train. It was a long time before he could race but he has a strong view on life. As soon as he hits the front, he looks around and goes where he wants to go.

“I hope personally that Philippa elects to run him because the York Ebor meeting is my favourite of the year.

“It will be touch and go whether he gets in, and if not we will take it on the chin and step him up into Cup races.”

Cooper could yet be persuaded to run at York, although Sweet William sits some way down the field with a weight of 8st 11lb at this stage.

She added: “My husband is an Ebor person – he loves the Ebor and trying to find the winner.

“I’m willing to go with the flow. I’m not going to tell the trainer what to do because without the trainer I wouldn’t even have the horse.

“If they want to do it – could he get in off a low weight? I’m just grateful and it’s one day at a time, so let him come through today.”

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