Goodwood racecourse is located close to Chichester, West Sussex and is a home to the much loved Glorious Goodwood festival of racing which takes place in late July or August of each year. The festival highlights the best of UK flat racing and features three of the countries annual 36 group 1 flat races, the Sussex Stakes, Goodwood Cup and Nassau Stakes.
The Goodwood Cup was first held in 1812 and has a purse of £500,000. Stayers’ Triple Crown winner Double Trigger excelled at the event winning the Goodwood Cup in 1995, 1997 and 1998. The Sussex Stakes also has attracted the best of the best over the years, with Frankel winning back to back in 2011 and 2012. In 2018 the purse for the event was £1,000,000, with almost £600,000 of that going to the winner.
The Goodwood racecourse is rather complex compared to many more straightforward UK courses. It has a long uphill straight, then is downhill for much of the remainder. There is a looped area which features starts for many of the longer distance races, including the 1 mile 2 furlong Craven course and 2 mile 5 furlong Cup Course.
On occasion the course can get foggy, due to its proximity to the coast. The official Goodwood website highlights the courses ’19 fabulous days of racing and entertainment’. It’s hard to argue with that assessment of the Goodwood racing experience.