Hanson: Glorious Goodwood plays for July 28

After bypassing Wednesday's action at Goodwood, when two of the three Group races were won by the post-time favorite, it's back-in-the-saddle time for Day 3 of the five-day fixture on Thursday. Bettors are again facing a short-priced favorite in the featured event, so I'll concentrate my eye on the first two stakes offerings of the day.

Race 2: Richmond S. (G2), 9:25 a.m. ET

Royal Scotsman is favored here off a five-length, course-and-distance maiden win, which preceded a third in a decent renewal of the Coventry (G2) at Royal Ascot. However, I can't overlook #2 Bluelight Bay (12-1) at a price. Although second best in Royal Scotsman's maiden win, he was conceding experience to that rival in the May 20 heat. Bluelight Bay came back to graduate by two lengths at Windsor over a next-out winner, and the strong-looking colt looked good doing it.

The faster ground expected on Thursday might also help to close the gap between Bluelight Bay and Royal Scotsman, whose emphatic win occurred on soft going.

Race 3: Gordon S. (G3), 10 a.m. ET

He could have proved the cherry on top for a terrific two days of betting for me at Royal Ascot last month, but #4 Grand Alliance (7-1) decided instead to drift toward the stands in the crucial final stages of the King Edward VII (G2) and missed narrowly to Changingoftheguard as a 10-1 chance.

While unlikely to get a double-digit price in this 1 1/2-mile St Leger (G1) prep, it's still likely Grand Alliance will offer fair odds as he'll be equipped with full blinkers this time rather than just a visor. A Churchill half-brother to Dutch Connection, who won the Lennox (G2) over this strip, Grand Alliance showed considerable improvement in the King Edward VII after looking not all comfortable in either run over Epsom two and three back. He's the play to make amends for last time.