Jockey Joanna Mason eyes handicap treble in Goodwood's famous Stewards’ Cup

The Malton rider is making her debut in the famous 28-horse ‘cavalry charge’ down the Sussex track on the five-year-old gelding trained by her grandfather Mick and uncle David Easterby.

Horse and rider won the JRA Tokyo Trophy Handicap on Derby Day at Epsom in June and although a bad draw stymied their chances in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot, they bounced back in fine style to land the Liverpool FC Foundation Scurry Handicap at the Curragh earlier this month.

Mason has ridden Sondad for all six of his career wins and his hoping it will be a lucky seventh on the final day of Glorious Goodwood.

Asked if she fancied Sondad’s chances, she said: "Definitely. Down at Royal Ascot we were drawn the wrong side, we needed pace at our side to get us into the race.

"He’s obviously run a brilliant race at the Curragh and we are drawn quite well [stall 21] so we have high hopes.”

The win in Ireland sees him carry a six-pound penalty but the rider doesn’t think that will hinder the chances of her sprinter who is 12-1 with the race sponsors Coral.

"He’s gone up in the handicap and is running with a penalty but he ran his best race at the Curragh last time and the ground does not seem to bother him, whatever it is so we are really hopeful,” she said.

Sondad is the Sheriff Hutton yard’s highest-rated horse with career winnings of £178,000 with another £129,000 on offer for the winner today.

She said: “It is nice to have a horse to take you to the big meets. I have won two races at Epsom, he’s taken me to Royal Ascot, The Curragh and Goodwood.

“I can’t thank the owners and team enough. He’s laid back, straightforward and uncomplicated and that makes it so much easier.

Describing what it is like to run in a sprint with such a big field, she said: "You are aware of the horses around you but not all twenty-odd of them.

"You ride your race from the group around you, what’s going well, how you are going, where the gaps will open up and who is travelling best.

“But the main focus is on you and your horse, a lot of the other runners seem ‘irrelevant’ at the time, you don’t know what they are doing at the other end of the track.

"It is always a great thrill to win at the bigger meets and the owners are a lovely bunch led by Guy Routledge, they always have a smile on their face and make it fun.

"It would be nice to have another winner for the north.”

John and Sean Quinn’s Dark Rising, who finished second to Sondad at the Curragh, reopposes today along with David O’Meara’s Toca Madera and Hammer The Hammer for Kevin Ryan.

At Goodwood today, Leyburn trainer Karl Burke took his tally of winners to three for the week – and four for Yorkshire – as Shayem (17-2) and Clifford Lee struck in the HKJC World Pool Thoroughbred Stakes to overturn Godolphin’s odds-on favourite Talk of New York (2-5) for Charlie Appleby and jockey William Buick.

The in-form trainer later led home a Yorkshire one-two as his 11-1 chance Revels, ridden by Sam James, pipped fellow White Rose trainer Ben Haslam’s Dubai Champion (4-1) and Ryan Moore by a short head in the seven-furlong Hawes & Curtis Nursery.

Burke was narrowly denied a memorable treble when Lee and Boiling Point (10-3) went down a neck to Galen (3-1) and Dylan Browne McMonagle in the Bentinck Conditions Stakes.

The Quinns’ Jm Jungle finished fifth in defence of his five-furlong Group 2 King George Qatar Stakes crown which was won by Paul Mulrennan on Jim Goldie’s American Affair (12-1), while David O’Meara’s Cerulean Bay (12-1) took second in the Coral Golden Mile.

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David O’Meara’s Mirsky bids to complete a Thirsk cup double when he lines up in the William Hill Summer Cup tomorrow (2.08).

The race is the feature of a seven-race card due off at 1.38 and Danny Tudhope’s mount claimed the Thirsk Hunt Cup back in May and while he hasn’t won in four runs since, he is bidding for a hat-trick at the North Yorkshire track – off the same mark as his last success there.

Ed Walker’s Jeddaal, Michael Dods’ recent York winner Northern Express and Mr Swivell for Kevin Philippart De Foy, are among the other leading antepost contenders for the race run over just shy of a mile.

Bow Echo’s trainer George Boughey sends Asuka from Newmarket for the seven-furlong William Hill Epic Boosts Handicap (3.47).

Owned and bred by the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum and running in the same colours as his all-conquering three-year-old stablemate, Asuka won on his debut at headquarters in August 2024.

He was off the track for nearly two years before returning with a second at Wolverhampton earlier this month and then a ten-length success at odds of 1-50 at Lingfield ten days ago. Jack Callan takes three-pounds off today.

Doncaster stages an eight-race card at Town Moor due off at 1.55 and followed after racing by the Steve Bracknall Live After Racing/The Meadowhall Summer Saturday Series show.