Top trainer Hannon will end Goodwood season with trophy - again

The Wiltshire-based handler is sure of a rapturous reception when he is presented with the racecourse’s Dick Hern Trophy for an incredible fourth successive season.

You have to go back to 2007 and Mick Channon’s lifting of the trophy – given each year to the trainer with the most wins in Goodwood’s season – to find the last time it went elsewhere.

Hannon, with 19 victories, is so far ahead of his rivals he could have been presented with the trophy before Glorious Goodwood. He aims to go out with a bang with numerous horses among 251 entries for Sunday’s card.

OUR GOODWOOD TIPS: 200 Epsom Salts, 235 Tagula Night, 310 Poetic Lord, 340 Forest Edge, 410 Aazif, 445 Compton Blue, 515 Marajaa, 550 Around The Clock.

Hannon will pick up the award after the 2.35 race, the Goodwood Aero Club Stakes, and racecourse MD Adam Waterworth says he’ll deserve all the accolades that come his way.

“It’s an incredible record he has here,” Waterworth said. “In Richard Hughes he has a stable jockey who rides this course better than most, the yard is relatively local to us and many of his owners enjoy seeing their horses here.

“The fact he’s on course to be champion trainer having run so many horses at Goodwood is also fantastic for the racecourse. And you wouldn’t bet again him being our top operator again next year and even in 2013.”

Racing is due to begin at 2pm and has been extended to eight races because of the high number of entries.

Kieren Fallon will have at least a couple of rides as he closes in on Paul Hanagan at the top of the champion jockey stakes. Fallon is just a few wins behind reigning champ Hanagan.

And it’s also the annual chance for National Hunt jockeys to test themselves on the Downs. They line up for the two-mile Fornells Alderbrook Stakes.

We’ll have tips for the meeting on this website on Sunday morning, with a report on Sunday evening.

STEVE BONE