Adam Waterworth previews the 2024 Qatar Goodwood Festival
Adam Waterworth previews the 2024 Qatar Goodwood Festival - he talks about the Sussex Stakes, Goodwood Cup and Nassau Stakes line-ups, the challenges facing racing and top-level meetings in 2024 and his Glorious memories - including Frankel, Stradivarius and Battaash - and reflects on the success of the Magnoia Cup ladies' charity race.
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00:00Joined now by Adam Waterworth, Managing Director of the Events Division at Goodwood.
00:05Adam, we're looking ahead to Glorious Goodwood next week, Qatar Goodwood Festival, the 10th Qatar Goodwood Festival I think it is.
00:13And how is everything? Is everyone ready and primed and looking forward to it?
00:19Yes, I mean certainly everybody's looking forward to it, everybody's primed.
00:23A few last minute things to do, but to be honest there are always a few sort of last minute bits and pieces
00:28that you do on the weekend before you're tweaking things.
00:31Now the majority's done, but we'll be doing a few last minute tweaks and things
00:35and you always tend to do that frankly right up until the gates open on Tuesday if we're honest.
00:39But no, we're in a good place, the course looks amazing.
00:43It does.
00:44I know you've had a word with Ed, the course looks amazing and the place looks really well actually.
00:48I mean hopefully, the forecast is for better weather than we're getting today
00:52and the place always looks better in better weather, but no, we're in a good place.
00:56And the racing line-up, if we look at that first of all, looks to be very strong, doesn't it?
01:01Is it fair to say it could be one of the best for some years, do you think?
01:05Yes, I think the key races look to be exactly where you want them to be.
01:12You look at the Sussex and it is without doubt going to be that that's going to decide the champion miler this year,
01:17which is what we always ask for.
01:19It looks like we've got a bit of a superstar in Rosalion and he's trained by Richard Hannan,
01:24which for us at Goodwood is amazing.
01:27You know, the Hannan yard is synonymous with success at Goodwood
01:32and he's a very popular figure here, so that's great.
01:36The Ascot Gold Cup winner coming back, Kit Pryos, previous winner of the Goodwood Cup,
01:41again, it looks a strong race.
01:43This bit of rain will help with the likes of Truchan coming back,
01:46which again, it looks like being a really strong Goodwood Cup,
01:50so the meeting will kick off in style.
01:52And the Nassau is always a good race.
01:54If you look down the list of the fillies that are coming in the Nassau,
01:57there's Ascot winners, there's classic winners,
01:59so as things stand, it looks like the top races, the really top class races are holding up really well
02:06and the support card is incredibly strong.
02:09We've got, as I said, we've got winners from the major festivals so far,
02:13we've got previous winners from here coming back
02:16and the handicaps will be as impossible to solve as they always are,
02:20which means that's a good race week.
02:22Absolutely, to take on the bookies where we can.
02:25It's well known that racing is facing challenges at the moment.
02:29Does it get harder to put on a festival at this level?
02:32Does it get harder to attract good horses to the top races?
02:36Yes, basically, or it seems to.
02:39I think as the competition has got, over those 10 years of the Qatar Goodwood Festival,
02:45and I remember 10 years ago speaking to you about the prize money investment
02:49and where we were going to put the meeting on the world stage, and we've done that.
02:52We've got an Australian runner this week.
02:57Goodwood is spoken about now, globally in the world of horse racing,
03:02that we are in amongst the very best race meetings in the world,
03:08which is exactly where we wanted to be.
03:10But the competition gets ever stronger.
03:13The Middle East now, at the start of the year, with Saudi Cups, as well as Dubai World Cups,
03:18and the racing in Qatar is very strong, and that is competitive.
03:23I think the world's becoming a smaller place.
03:25The idea of some horses having a mid-season break as in the UK season,
03:29in preparation for those big pots abroad in the autumn, is becoming an increasing thing.
03:35And frankly, I know for a lot of the owners and trainers in the UK,
03:40that the ability to keep horses in training here,
03:44when the value of those horses is so strong for the likes of Hong Kong and for the Middle East again,
03:50it's difficult.
03:53But all we can keep on doing is keeping the prize money as high as we possibly can.
04:00We're still competitive, certainly within the UK terms, we're still very competitive.
04:04It's really important that we keep focusing on that.
04:07And that's where the offer, the things that we can offer in terms of the week,
04:13in terms of that experience of coming to Goodwood.
04:15Thankfully, this place still has that magic in terms of, you know, people want to come.
04:22People want to come and experience Goodwood.
04:24And once they've experienced it, they want to come back.
04:27And that's a great place to be.
04:30And what about the event in terms of commercially, you know, selling it, ticket sales and so on and so forth?
04:36Has that been difficult this year?
04:38It isn't. I mean, that doesn't get any easier.
04:41I mean, well, you know, we'll be there or thereabouts with last year, which is, you know,
04:46it's as good as we could have hoped for, if I'm honest.
04:49But we're not going to break any records.
04:52And it is, I think that's the same when I speak to my colleagues across horse racing.
04:55I think that's the same everywhere you look.
04:58I think there's a bit of that sort of structurally within the horse racing industry.
05:04Again, thankfully, locally, we have a very strong brand and a very strong reputation.
05:12And we get a lot of returning customers, which is something we'll never take for granted.
05:17And that certainly helps.
05:19But just horse racing generally, you know, doesn't seem to be getting any easier.
05:26On a personal level, this will be your 14th Glorious Goodwood here, I think.
05:31I'm sorry to remind you of that.
05:33Two things. What would be the two or three sort of standout moments from those previous 14?
05:40Would you think that either the horses or the races that you still remember now, like yesterday?
05:45I mean, the obvious one is always going to be Frank.
05:48Yeah.
05:49You know, I was very lucky to be here for both of Frankel's wins.
05:52Obviously the only race he ever won twice.
05:55And that was incredible.
05:57The atmosphere here was just off the charts.
06:00And he's the best horse I'll ever see.
06:02So Frankel will always be up there.
06:04For me, Stradivarius was...
06:07Four times.
06:08There's something about Goodwood that we get those crowd favourites.
06:10You know, our crowd and our members are so passionate about the game and knowledgeable.
06:15But when you get one of those horses that is doing something extra special, you know, four or five wins,
06:20then we take those horses to our heart.
06:25And Stradivarius, for me, winning the Goodwood Cup multiple times was, you know,
06:29it was just such a shame that his last win was in the Covid years.
06:34But just seeing Stradivarius return was...
06:39And the whole Frankie factor and all of that was great.
06:41And then he nearly came back and won it again.
06:43He nearly came back and won it again.
06:44Closer than people thought.
06:45But I suppose in a funny sort of way, if you're talking about those Goodwood horses,
06:48I suppose in my time, Batash still stands out as...
06:52Another four time winner.
06:53But he was a proper Goodwood horse.
06:55You know, we sort of quite...
06:57Or I always quite liked the fact that he didn't really like York very much.
07:00And he wasn't very fond of Haskelford.
07:02He came to Goodwood and he loved it.
07:04And I think our members loved that as well.
07:06He was sort of our horse, or we felt he was our horse.
07:09And so seeing him blitz up that five furlong track the way he did and break track records
07:15and just, you know, be dominant in a division that it's difficult to dominate,
07:20that five furlong pair thing, and come back year and again,
07:23I think Batash will always have a pretty special place for me.
07:27And just on a similar theme, what will you most look forward to next week?
07:31A particular race or a particular time of the week?
07:34I think, well, Saturday at six o'clock.
07:37It's all over.
07:38I always quite like that.
07:40The first glass of wine on Saturday evening is always quite a nice one.
07:43Fun to look forward to.
07:44But I suppose, again, it's a pretty obvious one, I'm afraid,
07:49but that Sussex Stakes is shaping up to be a really special one.
07:55And I think seeing the Hannan name back against a favourite for the Sussex Stakes will be great.
08:05I love Tuesday morning.
08:07If I'm honest, I love the gates opening on Tuesday because we're off.
08:10And I love that first race on Tuesday because almost the horses then take the meeting.
08:15The pressure's off a little bit, isn't it?
08:17We do all the talking and all the pressure.
08:20And there's a lot of hard work from the team.
08:23Not from me, but from the team in terms of getting the place ready.
08:30And there will be something else throws up over the weekend.
08:33There'll be a story somewhere or something.
08:35But then you get to Tuesday first race and the horses take the meeting.
08:39And the horses make the stories.
08:40And the sport becomes the centre of it all.
08:43And it flows from there, doesn't it?
08:44And from there, you just let the meeting flow.
08:46And so I love that bit.
08:48That first race, that first cheer and getting the meeting underway is a moment I always look forward to.
08:55But as you say, one race, then it's got to be the Sussex.
08:59Should be a classic, shouldn't it?
09:00And there's just one other race that I wanted to ask you about.
09:03And it's not part of the main race programme, but the Magnolia Cup is back again this year.
09:07And that was soon after you came here.
09:10It was.
09:11Nobody really knew how that would take off at the time.
09:13It could have been held once and never seen again.
09:16It's actually been a terrific success, hasn't it?
09:18Yeah, and we got a bit of criticism.
09:21I got a bit of criticism with, you know, what's a race like that doing in this meeting?
09:26I think it's part of our DNA, actually, at Goodwood, that we can do things a bit differently.
09:31And that we're the one place who can do stuff like that, actually.
09:34And the difference that's made to that Thursday,
09:40A, the amount of money we've raised for charity, obviously.
09:43It was 2.4 million or something, isn't it?
09:45But again, in terms of when you look at the amount of coverage that gets
09:51and the difference of audience that opens us up to,
09:55and the number of people who've heard about it.
09:57You know, we've got an Australian rider.
09:59We get messages from literally around the world from people saying,
10:03I'd love to be involved in that.
10:06And for me now, it will always be here.
10:09The Magnolia Cup is very much part of Race Week.
10:12It does throw up some...
10:13And always will be.
10:14Some really inspiring stories.
10:16You know, the personal stories of the riders.
10:18It's amazing.
10:19The charities as well.
10:20And every year, it always throws up a story.
10:23Every year there's a story of some...
10:25And to think the amount of...
10:26I suppose you can forget the amount of work that the ladies go through
10:32to get ready to ride here is phenomenal.
10:36Started months ago, didn't they?
10:38Literally months ago.
10:39And to see them in the weighing room, actually,
10:41or the winner's enclosure afterwards,
10:43and frankly, win, lose, or draw, it doesn't matter.
10:45The look of elation on their faces of having achieved it
10:48is something that always gives me a smile.
10:52When you were talking about things I look forward to,
10:55that's another thing you look forward to
10:57because there's nothing else quite like it.
10:59And we'll just finish with a little plug.
11:01People can still buy tickets.
11:03They can.
11:04And we'll be able to write up to each day.
11:06You'll probably have a couple of sellouts or near sellouts later in the week.
11:09So, as you know, this builds through the week.
11:13So, yes, there are still tickets available,
11:15but I would say go online and book.
11:17And certainly, as we get towards Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
11:19as per usual, we will be getting tight in some of the enclosures.
11:23So, the sun is going to shine.
11:26The racing is going to be fantastic.
11:28The place is going to look its absolute best.
11:31So, where else do you want to be next week?
11:33Great. We look forward to it, and I'm sure you do too.