On no course in Britain does jockeyship count for more than at undulating, tricksy Goodwood and although Frankie Dettori was able, on his final appearance there, to treat the expectant crowd to a couple of flying dismounts after victories on Epictetus and Kinross, the week’s top rider was clearly Tom Marquand. One racing sage told me during the week, ‘Racing will desperately need another Frankie to engage the public’s attention’ – and when I proffered Tom and his wife Hollie Doyle as a twosome who could do so together, the rejoinder was: ‘Of course Tom’s got the ability but he’s just too nice.’ He meant that you simply couldn’t imagine Tom Marquand winning headlines by stealing another jockey’s whip mid-race like Lester Piggott or scrumping a trainer’s cigars.

But what we did see from Marquand T. at Goodwood was a masterclass in opportunism, timing and sheer courage. On Hughie Morrison’s long-striding Quickthorn Tom simply stole the Goodwood Cup by going more than 20 lengths clear of the field, getting the fractions exactly right for the rest of the two miles and still having six lengths left at the line. He’d won the Lonsdale Cup at York on Quickthorn last year the same way.

This time Tom declared post-race: ‘There’s no masterplan with him. Down at the gates Frankie looked across and joked “Are you going to drop him in?” [i.e. hold Quickthorn up at the back], because everybody knows what he’s going to do and they can’t stop him.’ Tom insisted that the other jockeys shouldn’t be criticised for letting Quickthorn get away, adding, ‘He’s a relentless galloper and you think no horse can keep that up. I wouldn’t be putting down the other lads in behind. I would be giving my lad credit for going such a gallop.’

As he said it, I couldn’t help remembering the 2020 Derby when the unknown Emmet McNamara on the 25-1 Aidan O’Brien outsider Serpentine scooted 12 lengths clear early on and held on to win. The established jockeys behind him were heavily criticised for letting Serpentine get away – and who finished second in that race on Khalifa Sat, but one Tom Marquand?

On the final quagmire day at Goodwood Tom won the Lillie Langtry Stakes in similar front-running style on the 25-1 Sumo Sam, having picked up the ride at the last minute when Neil Callan couldn’t do the weight. On top-weight Hamish in the King’s Plate Marquand waited patiently, picked off the field from three out and led inside the final furlong. Bringing home the King’s horse Desert Hero in the Gordon Stakes was a more desperate matter with trainer’s wife Maureen Haggas admitting to having kittens in the stands as the pair weaved about looking for room in the last two furlongs before a gap finally appeared. ‘Sometimes at Goodwood you have to be a bit brave,’ was the jockey’s comment – and to the joy of the racing community the King and Queen’s racing adviser John Warren indicated afterwards that Desert Hero is likely now to be routed to the final classic, the St Leger.

Just how difficult life at Goodwood can become for unwary riders was evidenced in the Nassau Stakes when the odds-on favourite Blue Rose Cen was ridden by a French jockey Aurelien Lemaitre with no experi-ence of Goodwood. He became hopelessly boxed in on the rail by a cluster of English opponents and the best horse in the race was given no chance of unwinding the kind of effort that had won her the French equivalents of the Guineas and the Oaks.

One rider you can count on to handle Goodwood is Andrea Atzeni, but sadly Frankie Dettori isn’t the only popular Italian-born rider we may not be seeing again in Sussex for a while. Post-race chats with the ever-smiling Atzeni have always a pleasure but life has been harder for him after his retainer with Sheikh Obaid concluded and he has accepted an offer to ride in Hong Kong. Goodwood successes on Lord Riddiford, Vandeek and in the ultra-competitive Stewards’ Cup on Aberama Gold confirmed how much we will miss his talents.

As for Frankie, his win on Kinross in the Lennox Stakes for Ralph Beckett, who deservedly collected his first Goodwood championship, was smoothly effected. Dettori made good use of the cutaway to pick up at the right moment on a horse who relishes the soft ground.

Even more so on this occasion, it seems. Ralph revealed after the race that Kinross had spent much of the previous 48 hours with his left fore in an ice bucket: ‘He trod on a stone. He’s got very, very thin soles and he feels every pinprick.’ Marc Chan’s versatile performer now faces contests in three countries in the near future over six furlongs, seven furlongs and a mile at Ascot, Longchamp and Santa Anita. Says Ralph: ‘He likes soft ground because he’s out of a Selkirk mare but over a mile he handles it quick. We’ll try to dance every dance again. He’s a gelding. That’s what he’s here for: he’s got to dance every dance.’