Glorious Goodwood: Evening Saigon lands Stewards’ Cup as Crowley hangs up boots

Evening Saigon, a 16-1 chance ridden by James Doyle from stall 10, won the £250k Stewards’ Cup here on Saturday on the afternoon when Jim Crowley, the 2016 champion jockey on the Flat, announced his retirement from race-riding following a serious fall at York in August 2025.

The consensus among trainers when the draw for Saturday’s feature event was made earlier in the week was that the high-numbered stalls would have an edge, but Evening Saigon moved smoothly towards the lead on the far side with around a furlong to run and stayed on well to beat Stratusnine (drawn five), with Mitbaahy, from stall 25, first across the line on the stands’ side in third.

The victory completed an impressive double in Glorious Goodwood’s biggest handicaps for trainer Hamad Al Jehani, who saddled Archivist, also at 16-1, to land the Golden Mile here on Friday, while Evening Saigon was also a seventh winner of the week for the gelding’s owner, the Qatar-based Wathnan Racing operation.

“James had a bit of a hard choice [from three Wathnan-owned runners] but he was pretty firm on riding this lad in the end,” Richard Brown, the operation’s racing adviser, said.

“If you look at Hamad’s statistics since he started training, they match up with the best trainers in the country. He’s a phenomenal horseman and was a very good rider himself. He’s a great horseman and he’s formed a great team.”

Earlier in the afternoon, the weighing room paid tribute to the retiring former champion jockey, Jim Crowley, who is hanging up his boots after struggling to recover from serious injuries sustained in a fall at York 11 months ago.

Crowley started his career as a jump jockey before switching to the Flat, and was crowned champion jockey in 2016 before being hired as the No 1 jockey to the powerful Shadwell Racing operation, founded by the late Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum.

The best horses ridden by Crowley in Shadwell’s blue-and-white colours included the brilliant miler, Baaeed, one of the best sprinters of recent years in Battaash and the King George winner, Hukum.

“It’s been a great career,” Crowley said on Saturday. “It’s just unfortunate that after my accident at York, my body couldn’t get back to the level I want to be to race-ride again.

“I never imagined this happening when I came from jumping and I was fortunate to ride all over the world and for some of the best trainers in the world.”