John Dunlop mounts a major challenge at Glorious Goodwood next week.

The Arundel trainer will have runners on all five days of the meeting at which prize money of more than £1.5m is on offer.

The stable star Sakhee will not be appearing, but it will be a surprise if Dunlop, second only to Henry Cecil in the list of most successful trainers at the track, does not have a winner or two.

On the opening day, Tuesday, John Dunlop runs Millenary, a disappointing eighth in the French Derby after winning the Chester Vase in May. Millenary goes for the one-and-a-half-mile Peugeot Gordon Stakes and is unlikely to encounter the soft ground that made him so leg weary at Chantilly last month.

In the last 13 years, Dunlop has won the Gordon Stakes three times and with jockey Pat Eddery back in action after his ten days suspension for over-use of the whip at Sandown, Millenary will take all the beating in this recognised St Leger trial.

There could be some family rivalry here, because Dunlop's elder son, Ed, who trains at Newmarket, runs the highly-rated Hataab in the same race.

On Wednesday, the Champagne Lanson Vintage Stakes has been the long term target for Chianti, winner of both his races and already strongly fancied for next year's 2000 Guineas. This is the best two-year-old at Castle Stables and, all being well, he will follow his Goodwood run with one of the major back end races for juveniles at Newmarket or Longchamp.

The Champagne Stakes has thrown up a couple of Derby winners in the last 20 years and there are serious hopes that Chianti may follow suit.

His stable companion, Romantic Affair, is an intended runner in the competitive Tote Gold Trophy over one-and-a- half miles on the same day.

John Dunlop was partly responsible for the distance of the Goodwood Cup being reduced by half-a-mile to two miles in 1991. The desired effect of bigger fields was immediately achieved. From six runners up to 1990, the average has leapt to just under ten. But Dunlop, who won the race with Lucky Moon at two-and-a-half miles in 1990, has not been successful since.

The likely Castle Stables representatives in the Cup this time are San Sebastian, only just beaten in the Chester Cup in May, and, if the ground should come up soft, Orchestra Stalls.

The recent Lingfield winner Red'n'Socks runs in the valuable William Hill Mile, also on Thursday.

The following day the Group Three Lennox Stakes over seven furlongs, sponsored by jewellers Theo Fennell, is a new race and Dunlop will saddle Lightning Arrow for it.

Pushed There are two Group One races at the meeting and, although Dunlop does not have a runner in the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday, he will be represented in the Vodaphone Nassau Stakes for fillies on Saturday by Claxon. She will be pushed to win because the favourite, Clive Brittain's Crimplene, is outstanding and has already won the Irish 1000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Dollar Bird runs in the Turf Club Stakes on Saturday to complete a busy week, although the pressure is relieved on trainer and staff by the fact that Goodwood is only ten miles from Arundel.

Meanwhile, Dunlop was shocked when Sakhee, his Derby runner-up, was only fourth to Giants Causeway in the Coral Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

But Dunlop has discovered the reason for the disappointing display.

"Thank goodness a slight problem has come to light after exhaustive tests," said racing secretary Marcus Hosgood. "It is so much better to know the reason for a poor performance than to have to guess, and it seems he jarred his hind legs either in the race or beforehand."

Sakhee is on the easy list at the moment but is being aimed at the Group One Juddmonte International Stakes at York on August 22.

l THE fine weather may suit most of us but for Pulborough trainer Amanda Perrett it is proving to be a frustration.

Her stable star, Indian Lodge, is entered for the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on Wednesday.

She said: "He will not run unless we get soft going which seems unlikely.

"It is frustrating but it would be a complete waste to run him on fast ground." Indian Lodge will probably be kept for the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deaville, where the ground is currently soft, in a fortnight.