by Mike Curry
Paco Boy outfinished determined runner-up Stimulation to win his first start against older horses in the $309,101 Betfair Cup/Lennox Stakes (Eng-G2) on Tuesday, opening day of the five-day Glorious Goodwood meeting.
Stimulation surged past pacesetter Dunelight with about one furlong remaining but was quickly overtaken by Paco Boy, who accelerated willingly under Richard Hughes to edge Stimulation by a neck.
Paco Boy completed seven furlongs in 1:26.59 on turf rated good.
A three-year-old Desert Style colt trained by Richard Hannon, Paco Boy entered off a seventh-place finish in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Fr-G1) (French Two Thousand Guineas) on May 11 at Longchamp.
Paco Boy scored back-to-back stakes victories to open the year, winning the Betdirect.com Spring Cup on March 15 at Lingfield and the Bathwick Tyres Greenham Stakes (Eng-G3) on April 19 at Newbury in his group stakes debut. Out of the winning Sandhurst Prince mare Tappan Zee, he improved to five wins in seven starts for owner The Calvera Partnership No. 2.
Infallible, a three-year-old filly trained by John Gosden, finished fifth in the Lennox Stakes in her first start against males. The Group 3-winning Pivotal filly entered off a runner-up finish in the UAE Hydra Properties Falmouth Stakes (Eng-G1) on July 9 at Newmarket.
Finjaan picked up his first career stakes win on Tuesday at Goodwood, nipping runner-up Bonnie Charlie by a head in a thrilling finish in the Betfair Molecomb Stakes (Eng-G3) for two-year-olds.
Trained by Marcus Tregoning for owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, the Royal Applause (GB) colt completed five furlongs in :57.88 under Richard Hills. Finjaan won his career debut by a half-length on May 4 at Newbury and entered off a runner-up finish in the Betfair Betting as it Should Be National Stakes on May 29 at Sandown.
King Edward VII Stakes (Eng-G2) runner-up Conduit posted a breakthrough victory as the 1-to-2 favorite in the Betfair Gordon Stakes (Eng-G3).
The three-year-old Dalakhani colt held off runner-up Donegal by a head to record his first career stakes win for trainer Sir Michael Stoute. A Ballymacoll Stud homebred, Conduit completed 1 1/2 miles in 2:37.14 under jockey Ryan Moore, who rode three winners on opening day.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor