GOODWOOD and Galway running concurrently this week means that racing enthusiasts have been spoilt for choice. This column will pick up the early exchanges at the two festivals and round up the remainder next week.

Two winning time performances stood out on the opening day of Goodwood, those posted by the two-year-old Expert Eye in the Qatar Vintage Stakes, worth a figure of 114, and by the three-year-old Stradivarius in the Goodwood Cup, which comes out at 118.

Expert Eye leapfrogged to the top of the juvenile pecking order with a performance of rare authority, in which he accounted for Zaman (102) and Mildenberger (100) by four and a half lengths and three-quarters of a length. His last four-furlong sectional of 46.57s showed that he ran the race in efficient style but it would be a surprise if he failed to run even faster when pushed.

As a son of Acclamation, whose average winning distance for older horses in Britain and Ireland in 2016 was just under seven furlongs, there seems no need to step up Expert Eye in trip before next year’s 2000 Guineas, for which he is justifiably the new favourite.

Perhaps the one thing that was lacking in this performance was the presence of a rival who was better than useful. The well-touted Aidan O’Brien-trained Seahenge (92 timefigure) seemed not to have learnt an awful lot from his green-as-grass debut win at Naas and finished fifth.

Stradivarius struck a blow for the classic generation in the Goodwood Cup by lowering the colours of the estimable Big Orange, winner of this race in the previous two years and every bit as good as ever. With another three-year-old in Desert Skyline in third it could be wondered if the weight-for-age allowance remains a bit generous. Stradivarius and Desert Skyline had finished first and sixth in a Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot that looks like justifying its upgrading to Group 2, and the latter had run Raheen House to a length at Newmarket in between.

The Goodwood Cup was run at something near a true pace, with the winner completing the last half-mile in 47.20s or 108.5% finishing speed (par finishing speeds are well above 100% at Goodwood due to the nature of the course).