Bank Holiday Brilliance

The King of Ibiza and music legend Carl Cox got the party started on an unforgettable three days at Goodwood Racecourse. The master of dance and rave music, it was no surprise that his adrenaline- fuelled set brought infectious energy to the sell-out crowd of 12,000 on Friday.

The atmosphere was one of elation throughout the hour-and-a-half set which heralded the return of music nights at Goodwood after two years with lasers lighting up the night sky above the Parade Ring.

Top-class racing took centre stage on Saturday, with the Lavender’s Blue springing a surprise for Pulborough trainer Amanda Perrett in the feature £125,000 Tote Celebration Mile. Owned and bred by Benny Andersson of Abba fame she knuckled down inside the final furlong to deny globetrotting star Benbatl in a pulsating finish. Lavender's Blue, who could be set for an ambitious crack at the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf later in the year.

Dancing King continued the music theme of the fixture, producing a fine front running performance under Joe Fanning to win the Tote March Stakes run in memory of John Dunlop, completing a third successive win in the race for trainer Mark Johnston following on from talented Sir Ron Priestly and Subjectivist. It was the Qatar Goodwood Festival winner Nagano who continued to press Dancing King in the final two furlongs but to no avail with the two-horse pulling an impressive ten lengths clear of the field.

The Tote Prestige Stakes provided trainer James Ferguson with a memorable first Group winner of his fledgling career as Mise En Scene denied Daneh in the £60,000 fillies race entering the market for next year’s 1000 Guineas under a well-judged ride from Oisin Murphy.

Throughout the weekend, approximately 34,000 racegoers not only enjoyed the blissful weather, but also family fun including live music, a traditional fairground, chair-o-plane, donkey rides, Punch and Judy shows and a petting zoo. For those keen to sit back and enjoy the afternoon, food outlets proved extremely popular.

The racecourse is now looking forward to two Midweek fixtures in September (7 & 22), before the season comes to a close on 10 October with the Harvest, Hops and Horseracing fixture. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit goodwood.com