Stay with Give Notice

Raw stamina and blinding speed will both be on display at Glorious Goodwood tomorrow, but don't expect any Paula Radcliffe style winning distances when some of the dourest stayers in Europe lock horns in the JP Morgan Private Bank Goodwood Cup.

Just two seconds covered the first twelve home when several of this field met in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot last month, and all the evidence suggests that there's precious little to choose between the leading contenders for this £90,000 marathon.

Favourite to adopt the Radcliffe role of hare to the hounds is the ageless Persian Punch, who earned his stripes in major championships when the Commonwealth Games heroine was still learning her trade in school sports days and bids to land this Group Two prize for the second time running after last year's pillar-to-post defeat of Double Honour.

Richard Hughes is pencilled in to take over the reins from Richard Quinn on David Elsworth's popular veteran, who seems to have escaped the infection which has troubled a few of his stablemates recently according to his trainer.

Elsworth said: "Richard Quinn is a top-class rider and the switch of rider is no reflection on him whatsoever, but Richard Hughes also gets on very well with Persian Punch and I'm very optimistic about his chances of another win." There are no question marks over the health of Mark Johnston's string, nor is there any denying the Scotsman's Goodwood Cup record which reads three wins from the mighty Double Trigger and another from Royal Rebel.

With Royal Rebel now sidelined for the season the man known as 'Braveheart' relies on Double Honour and And Beyond to carry the flag, while Sir Michael Stoute is hoping that Cover Up can follow his recent role as galloping companion to the King George winner Golan by landing a big race in his own right.

Cover Up has the right man aboard in Kieren Fallon, but Give Notice has an equally determined partner in Johnny Murtagh and looks ready to give local trainer John Dunlop his third success in this historic race.

Constant improvement is the hallmark of this fiveyearold's racing record, and any notion that he was flattered by his smooth defeat of Persian Punch and Double Honour in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot in May was dispelled when he stayed on strongly to finish a fine fifth in the Gold Cup.

That form reads very well in the context of this slightly weaker race, and if the rain which arrived last night continues today then so much the better.

Don't nip out to get another cool one before the King George 200th Anniversary Stakes, as a big field of powerful sprinters will hurtle down the hill before stopping the clock in what the Americans would refer to as "fifty six and change."

Such a fierce burn-up would hardly suit Mrs Radcliffe, but a blistering gallop over five furlongs is ideal for the James Given-trained Jessica's Dream.