By Cornelius Lysaght BBC racing correspondent

A survey in the Racing Post newspaper recently allotted Killarney racecourse in Ireland's County Kerry six points out of five for its "magnificent" setting.

It concluded: "If you know someone who never stops moaning, send them to Killarney. If that fails, justifiable homicide would seem a reasonable next step."

OK, but were there to be a race - the Magnificent Racecourse Stakes, if you will - Goodwood with its spectacular outlook, to the north, south, east and west would - at the very least - force a pretty tight photo-finish.

Goodwood has views over the Sussex Downs

Glorious Goodwood.

The phrase was coined not in the swanky offices of an expensive central London marketing agency, but by a 19th-century headline writer on the local rag (for free), and it stuck fast unsurprisingly.

Because the most famous alliteration in racing - perhaps even in sport - is justified by stunning views across the rolling Sussex Downs over which the racecourse snakes eccentrically.

And that's just the racecourse side. From behind the grandstand, constructed by the Duke of Richmond, the course's owner, it is easy to spot the striking green tower of Chichester cathedral below, and the glistening Solent estuary beyond.

And then there's the atmosphere.

Woe betide any chap taking his jacket off in the main enclosure, even on the hottest day Cornelius Lysaght

King Edward VII, a keen racing fan and supporter of Goodwood, described it perfectly as a "garden party with racing tacked on".

And in that vein, it was he, who pioneered the wearing of Goodwood's now trademark Panama hat.

Supposedly, fed up with "poseurs" parading around in top hat and tails, he broke tradition by wearing one in 1906, and his subjects soon followed.

In many ways, 101 years later, King Edward might still feel at home, as history and tradition remain Goodwood's bywords - woe betide any chap taking his jacket off in the main enclosure, even on the hottest day.

However, in other ways Goodwood has been at the forefront of the modernisation of horse racing, notably when employing the first racecourse commentator in 1952.

But before this all sounds like a job application to market the Festival, let me say it ain't all glorious.

First of all, when the weather is bad, particularly during the relatively frequent arrival of sea frets, the appropriate alliteration would be Gruesome Goodwood.

Additionally, there is a school of thought that it sometimes struggles to sustain the five days of the big meeting.

That said, the quality of racing at this year's fixture looks way above average, with valuable prizes like the Sussex and Nassau Stakes much anticipated.