Trip To Paris tops 12 declarations as he bids for famous double at Glorious Goodwood

Trip To Paris and Graham Lee strike victory in the Chester Cup earlier this year. Can they make it a ‘Cup hat-trick at Goodwood? Image copyright of Racingfotos.com

Trip to Paris will have to overcome a 4 lb penalty and 11 rivals as he bids to make history in Thursday’s Qatar Goodwood Cup.

The Ed Dunlop-trained staying star has already notched up ‘Cup’ victories this year at Chester and Royal Ascot and at Glorious Goodwood aims to follow in the hoofprints of the mighty Yeats as the first winner of both Ascot and Goodwood contests since 2008. However, his task has been made slightly harder by the weight concession he will have to make to his rivals in lieu of his Group 1 win.

His 11 rivals include the Gold Cup fourth and sixth, Simenon and Scotland, who were both less than four lengths behind at Ascot. The former will be partnered by Frankiue Dettori in an interesting jockey booking for leading Jumps trainer, Willie Mullins.

Trainer Mark Johnston has his string in brilliant form and is represented by both the Queen Alexandra Stakes winner, Oriental Tiger, and the three-year-old, Vive Ma Fille, who will sport the same Ron Huggins silks as Johnston’s  three-time winner of this race, Double Trigger.

Big Orange broke through at Group 2 level when making all the running in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket three weeks ago.

Ed Dunlop, trainer of Trip To Paris, told us: “Trip To Paris has been absolutely fine and dandy since Ascot. We gave him a little break after the Gold Cup, then brought him back into work two and a half weeks ago and now it’s all systems go for the Qatar Goodwood Cup.

“He does not look like a horse that has run six times in the last four months. He’s been very fresh in the mornings of late and certainly doesn’t look tired.

“I am more concerned about the 4lb penalty than I am about the course or the going. It will probably dry out to become quite tacky ground but it was dreadful when he won the Chester Cup and he’s also won on an artificial surface so underfoot conditions don’t appear to make much difference to him.

“He is a pretty simple ride but Graham [Lee] gets on well with him. He understands him and lets him go to sleep during a race – he’s done a very good job with him.

“This is half a mile shorter than last time but he is not a slow horse – he won over a mile and a half earlier this year. He has a turn of foot and, because he relaxes, he can last long distances before using it at the end of a race.

“I am a Sussex boy so this meeting has always had a special place in my heart and I like to target my horses at it. Goodwood is a beautiful place with great racing and a great atmosphere.”