'The Swedish handicapper said he'd have dropped us if he'd known we were coming'

Good Eye was not an unprecedented Scandinavian runner in Britain, but he was something of a rarity in a big-field handicap such as Saturday's Stewards' Cup and his connections were rewarded by a fine fourth at 150-1 at Goodwood.

His unfamiliarity to British punters may have played a part in those odds, but jockey Ray Dawson was complimentary about a horse who was a German Listed winner two starts ago and was not beaten that far in a Group 3 at Deauville last time.

Owned by a group calling themselves the Oldies But Goodies, Good Eye is trained in Sweden by Jessica Long, who was beaming as if her raider had just won the £250,000 Coral-sponsored prize.

"It was a fantastic run and what an experience this place is for me and the owners," she said as she came to terms with events.

"We had a small glitch in the build-up to his last race in France, but the time of his win in Germany before that was good and I think people underestimated him. He's a strong horse."

Good Eye (red and yellow silks against the rail) runs a blinder for his connectionsCredit: Edward Whitaker

His participation was an afterthought, however. "We planned to come here for another race with a different horse, but she got injured and we got an invitation from [clerk of the course] Ed Arkell after the German race," Long added.

"We thought, 'Why not?'. Our handicapper in Sweden has always been accused of keeping us a bit high in the handicap, but he did call me in the week and said, 'Why didn't you tell me you were running – I'd have dropped you a few pounds!'.

"I said, 'It's too late now!'. We obviously knew we were close to the cut-off point and didn't want to miss out by being too low anyway. It was a bit of a Catch-22."

Long, who has been based at Amanda Perrett's yard near Goodwood for the last three weeks, trains a string of about 20 and won a Group 3 with Berling, who used to be trained by John Dunlop and raced in the colours of Abba star Benny Andersson.

She also teamed up with William Buick to land a Listed race at Meydan in 2015 with Volatile, but seems to have been bitten by the Sussex bug.

"This is my first time at Goodwood and what an experience," she marvelled. "It's an amazing place and the team here has looked after us extremely well. It's been a brilliant experience for us.

"We don't have tracks like this in Sweden. We do have big handicaps, but not with this kind of money. Everything is on round tracks at home and he's always struggled around a bend, and I knew he'd love the straight track."

York's Ebor meeting might be next and Long added: "I haven't told the owners that as the plan was always the Goldene Peitsche at Baden-Baden in the autumn, but you lose some of the prize-money in Germany through tax so we might stay for York."

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