Goodwood – 4th May 2019 - Double Trigger Handicap

Goodwood – 4th May 2019 – Double Trigger Handicap

The Way You Dance was back in action at Goodwood on a sunny Saturday afternoon and a group of 9 owners were in attendance with Phil & Sarah joined by Rory and Sally, Alan, Lawrence, Gerald, Steph and Steph’s friend Gary. Goodwood is a great place to spend a sunny afternoon and the Owners and Trainers facility is a lovely glass building overlooking the paddock which is excellently placed.

Neil was not attending so Phil headed down to the weighing room to meet with Shane Kelly (who was riding) and to collect the saddle as The Way You Dance was contesting the first race. Over in the saddling boxes, The Way You Dance seemed very much on edge while he was being saddled, but he calmed down considerably in the paddock. Shane was soon in to meet with the owners and the agreed tactic was to ride The Way You Dance close to the pace and to challenge in the home straight if he was good enough.

Out of the stalls, he settled into sixth and moved up to 5th as the race progressed. He was travelling sweetly during the early part of the race and was still going well with over half a mile to go when they started downhill. At this point, however, it was quite noticeable that The Way You Dance seemed to lift his head up and his forward progress stalled. He did put his head down for a few strides as the ground started to rise again, but he was falling behind at that point and once he was in behind the field, Shane eased him down.

Shane reported afterwards that he thought that The Way You Dance had not handled the track well and felt that he would be better suited by a flat track. He seemed fine in the wash down area after the race, but left us plenty to think about in terms of future plans.