Richard Hannon looks forward to his Glorious Goodwood 2024 campaign
Richard Hannon looks forward to his Glorious Goodwood 2024 campaign
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00:00If you were to make a list of which racing family might be given the keys to the Goodwood
00:06Kingdom, then the Hannans would surely be at the top of the list. Richard Hannan Senior
00:10had 73 winners at the Qatar Goodwood Festival across an illustrious career, and Junior's
00:15not making a bad fist of it either, with 24 to his name in the space of a decade since
00:20taking over the reins. This year's team is headlined by the extremely exciting Rosalien,
00:25who heads to Sussex and is the A-lister amongst a strong squad once again, and they're looking
00:31to further an already remarkable tally.
00:36My father was always successful at it, and a meeting that we as a family have always
00:39enjoyed very much, and I think you just told me I've got 24 Goodwood Festival winners.
00:45I didn't know that. I'm quite impressed actually.
00:48It's an impressive tally, given that it's been now a decade or thereabouts since you've
00:52taken the license. Take me back though, first Goodwood memory. Was it when you were a boy?
00:57Yeah, I used to go there because it always was during school holidays. I always used
01:03to go down with my dad, and he would drive down there, have the air conditioning on way
01:07too cold. I used to freeze, I remember that, and I used to love it. I think it was only
01:12like three days then, I'm fairly sure, but yeah, I loved it. Or, you know, from when
01:16I was a boy. I still love it now. It's a great meeting.
01:20Before you took over the license, there was success aplenty. We covered that, but some
01:24of the three main ones were in the Sussex Stakes. Real Buddy in 2003, which was a bit
01:30of a surprise. Two lesser surprises in Canford Cliffs and Toronado.
01:34Yeah, three very good horses, three of the best that were here. I remember I was there
01:39on my own when Real Buddy won. My dad didn't go.
01:42His back was out, is that right?
01:44Oh, is that what you said?
01:45I think so, that's what he said, yeah.
01:46I think it was more like he thought he had no chance. Anyway, put his back, that's fine.
01:51And then, obviously, Toronado, he deserved it. It was a duel with Dawn Approach, who
01:57beat him, I think, a nose or something in the St. James Palace Stakes. It was a lovely
02:03way to get his own back. I remember it was a very, very, you know, thrilling race, it
02:09was. Obviously, then, before that was Canford Cliffs, and he was obviously one of the best
02:17miners we've ever had, so it's a very, very hard race to win, and one that you do need
02:22a champion. Group 1 horses are probably not good enough. You need a champion, especially
02:27nowadays, to win the Sussex.
02:29Even better when you can have a three-year-old going there, getting eight pounds. For Rosalion,
02:34that is the case. Everything up until now, it's, I mean, you change one minor detail
02:40of the season, and that's win the 2000 Guineas, but he's repaid you in spades.
02:44Yeah, exactly. He might have just been short of match fitness that day, maybe, but he was
02:50beaten by a very good horse of Charlie's, and it was nice to beat him in the St. James
02:57Palace Stakes, even though his horse probably didn't turn up. So, it's going to be a rematch
03:02of all the same horses again, and a thrilling one. Getting eight pounds off the older horses
03:07is obviously a help. I hope he handles the track, but physically, we've been really happy
03:13with him. He's progressed as the season's gone on, so we're looking forward to it very
03:17much.
03:18He looked fantastic this morning. We saw him in work. You couldn't hide your smile.
03:23Yeah, he almost looks like an Adonis. He's a very strong, good-looking, manly horse,
03:32and he's built on that as the year's gone on.
03:35You're not short of a catchy line, one that we in the media can take away. You've said
03:40in the run-up to this that if you were to make a race horse, he's as good as perfect,
03:45or paraphrasing. What really sets him apart, in your opinion?
03:48Well, he's an out-and-out athlete. He's a beautiful mover. Mentally, he's very sound,
03:56and he's got a turn of foot. It appears he's learning to race a little more maturely and
04:03intelligently. He's not as keen or as hard to settle as he has been. I was impressed
04:10the way he settled at Royal Ascot, and that's when he's going to have his most potent turn
04:15of foot, is if he settles.
04:17This is a horse we won't be seeing if they're soft in the description, is that right?
04:21No, no, no. He's as simple as that.
04:23He's such a fascinating component. He's a very different type to a stableweight, Hartem,
04:28who we were all thinking, would it be Lennox, would it be Sussex? It turns out, neither.
04:32Yes, he's going to go to the Jacques Le Marois, which is a lovely race for him. There's no
04:38need for him to take on Rosalien. He may as well head in a different direction. I'm not
04:41saying the two of them won't meet again in their careers, but he's going to go to Deauville,
04:46and hopefully that's his chance to win a Group One and be lovely ground out there as well.
04:53He deserves his chance. Any horse deserves to win a Group One. It's probably him. He's
04:56got a lot of fans, and rightly so. He's a proper warrior, and a horse that any trainer
05:01would love to have.
05:02Take us to some of the team that we might not know about. We know, obviously, about
05:06the headline act, Rosalien. Whom else might be going?
05:10We've got a nice filly that was fifth in the Queen Mary, called Xantha. She's going to
05:13run in the Alice Keppel. Great Bedwin, who won on Friday at Newbury, he's going to go
05:18for one of the handicaps, mile and a half. He's improving, since we've gilded him. We've
05:24got a nice T-Rod called Wheels of Fire, for the maiden. A couple of nice T-Rods for the
05:30nurses, not sure which ones yet. Classic, obviously, hopefully he'll run very well in
05:35the Golden Mile. He's a bit of a hard man to catch on his day, but he's a very capable
05:41horse. We've got a few good chances, but centred around Rosalien.
05:48Is this a meeting, how you take it, as it comes, of its place in the season, or have
05:53there been horses from some way out?
05:55It's one of the most important meetings of our season. It's the most beautiful track.
06:01On its day, a sunny day, it's probably the most beautiful. Prize money is massive now,
06:07and that has meant that the standard, the quality of the horse you need to win, has
06:11gone up massively. That can only be a good thing, but it does come at the right time
06:17after Royal Ascot for Rosalien, and a lot of the other horses. They've been able to
06:21have a month or so, and you are able to pinpoint and work back from this meeting with the money
06:28on offer. It's worthwhile doing.