Tuesday means new handicap marks, and this week the series levels up: our marks now come straight from the official lists each Tuesday, British and, for the first time, Irish as well, so the Irish-trained horses we follow no longer disappear into a blind spot. Goodwood week gave the handicapper plenty to do, and nine horses from our reviews and tracker made this week's cut. As always, every suggested target is checked against this year's published race programme and against the horse itself, sex, age and rating band included, with links to last year's runnings where we can show you one.
The first horse is free for everyone to read; the rest are for Premium and Pro members.
Hopewell Rock: raised 5lb, 101 to 106
Hopewell Rock won Saturday's Summer Handicap at Goodwood at 5/1, over the 1m6f trip, and the handicapper has responded with 5lb, to 106. No complaints: he was simply very well handicapped on 101, George Boughey placed him perfectly, and the win was the proof. The interesting question is what the rise does to his options, because 106 now prices him out of the 0-105 handicaps that would otherwise have been his bread and butter.
Where next: the rise shuts the door on Haydock's 0-105 Old Borough Cup in September, so the bold answer is the Ebor itself, worth £300,000 to the winner last year, where 106 is right in the range that gets a run. The two-mile stayers' heritage handicap on the Wednesday of the same meeting is the fallback, with no rating ceiling to worry about.
