Sponsored by Qatar Tourism and officially known as the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Glorious Goodwood is a five-day meeting staged at Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex, South East England in late July and early August. A fixture of the British sporting and social calendar since since the early nineteenth century, Glorious Goodwood features 13 Group races, including three Group 1 races, one on each of the first three days.
The feature race on day one is the Group 1 Goodwood Cup, run over two miles, open to horses aged three years and upwards and worth £500,000 in prize money. Since the race was shortened to its current distance in 1991, several horses have won more than once, but the most successful was Stradivarius, who recorded back-to-back victories in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The highlight on day two and, indeed, the highlight of the week, is the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, run over a mile, open to horses aged three years and upwards and worth just over £1 million in prize money. The ‘Duel on the Downs’, as the race is often billed, represents the first opportunity for three-year-olds, of the Classic generation, to take on older horses over a mile at the highest level. Frankel, the highest-rated horse in history, recorded back-to-back victories in 2011 and 2012.
Day three, known as Ladies’ Day, features the Group 1 Nassau Stakes, run over a mile and a quarter, open to fillies and mares aged three years and upwards and worth £600,000 in prize money. Further highlights on days four and five include the Group 2 Qatar Stakes, the Group 2 Celebration Mile and the major betting heat of the week, the Stewards’ Cup, a prestigious and valuable ‘Heritage Handicap’ with a safety limit of 28; horses ballotted out of the Stewards’ Cup are eligible for a consolation race, the Stewards’ Sprint, run the previous day.