Latest news with #Sussex Stakes
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘That's horse racing': 150-1 Sussex Stakes winner Qirat longest-priced Group One victor
The teeth, perhaps, were slightly gritted, but Richard Hannon offered some perspective after watching his colt, Rosallion, finish second to the 150-1 shot Qirat in the Sussex Stakes here on Wednesday. 'That's horse racing,' the trainer said. 'That's what keeps us all in it. It's not a great day when you're second in these races but we're lucky to be part of them.' Mundane words like 'shock' and 'upset' do not come close to describing the result of this Group One contest, one of the most prestigious and prized events in the global racing calendar, which was won by a horse that finished 27th of 30 runners in the Royal Hunt Cup Handicap on his previous trip to the track. Qirat, as the stewards drily noted afterwards, 'appeared to show improved form compared with its previous run'. Ralph Beckett's gelding was widely assumed to be in the race simply to ensure an even pace before Field Of Gold, the 1-3 favourite and, like Qirat, in the colours of the Juddmonte operation, swept through the field to victory. It was, as it transpired, a rash assumption. The first part of the script played out much as expected, as Serengeti, the pacemaker for Aidan O'Brien's Henri Matisse, worked his way to the front after a slow start and then went clear with Qirat and Richard Kingscote in close attendance. At the point around two furlongs out where Field Of Gold was expected to start closing them down. However, it soon became clear that the favourite was struggling to make ground. Instead, it was Sean Levy, on Rosallion, who set off in pursuit of the leaders, but as Serengeti dropped away, Qirat stayed on well and he was still two lengths in front at the furlong pole. Rosallion closed all the way to the winning post but Kingscote and Qirat still had a neck to spare at the line. Qirat was the longest-priced winner of a Group One race in Britain since the grading system was introduced in the early 1970s. Field Of Gold was clearly a long way below his best on his first visit to this tricky downland track, but Kingscote also deserves great credit for a no-nonsense ride at a front-runners' track, in a race where his rivals left themselves with too much to do. Ralph Beckett, Qirat's trainer, was certainly surprised to find himself in the winner's enclosure afterwards, but not entirely astonished. 'We set out to go 12-second furlongs,' Beckett said. 'That was the plan and what he did. It is as simple as that. They didn't sit close to him and that is the end result. When he went past Serengeti, I could see they were not coming and I was fairly confident he would not stop.' Kingscote described the outcome as 'a bit surreal and not what I expected this morning' but the race was also a fine advertisement for his talent for judging the fractions in front, a gift that should find plenty of new fans when Kingscote sets off for a four-month stint in Hong Kong from the start of September. 'Towards the cut-away [around two furlongs out] I was thinking he was going well,' Kingscote said, 'but you always expect the horses rated 20lb higher to be coming through. 'It is better to be going off [to Hong Kong] on a positive note. I'm looking forward to the opportunity but I have not burned bridges so I can always come back if need be.' John Gosden, the trainer of Field Of Gold, said that the favourite 'didn't seem too well-balanced on the track', adding: 'He got a little unbalanced coming out of the dip into the bend, but I am not making any excuses. They ignored the pacemaker and paid the price.' The five-runner field for Thursday's Nassau Stakes is the joint-smallest this century for the Group One feature on the third day of Glorious Goodwood, but while Minding was a prohibitive 1-5 favourite to beat four opponents in 2016, this year's renewal is a fascinating and open contest with four closely matched fillies at single-figure odds. Whirl, the Oaks runner-up and a Group One winner in Ireland last time out, heads the three-year-old challenge alongside Cercene, last month's Coronation Stakes winner, and Bedtime Story, who is looking to recapture the form of her impressive juvenile success at Royal Ascot last summer. It is an impressive squad for the Classic generation, in a Group One where three-year-olds have enjoyed plenty of success in recent seasons. They face a stern four-year-old opponent in See The Fire (3.05), however, and Andrew Balding's filly is a solid 2-1 shot to improve on her narrow defeat in this race 12 months ago. See The Fire produced one of the most visually impressive performances of the season to finish a dozen lengths clear of her field in the Middleton Stakes at York in May in a fast time, and raced closer to the pace than the two that beat her in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot last month. That run in open company confirmed that she is an improved performer this season and Ombudsman, the winner, went down only narrowly in the Eclipse next time out. Goodwood 1.20 Best Secret was a big-money buy to join the Wathnan Racing operation before Royal Ascot last month and repaid at least a little of the outlay when finishing third in a strong renewal of the Golden Gates Handicap, despite finding plenty of traffic problems in the home straight. If James Doyle can keep him out of trouble from stall two, his proven turn of foot could well be decisive. Goodwood 1.55 Clive Cox's Coppull was a big outsider for the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot but took a major stride forward to finish third, just a neck behind the runner-up, Do Or Do Not. The latter colt franked the form when finishing second to Zavateri, Tuesday's Vintage Stakes winner, next time up and Coppull has scope for significant further progress on just his third trip to the track. Goodwood 2.30 This is a much-anticipated step into Group-race company for Merchant, who beat Serious Contender, the subsequent runner-up in the Irish Derby, by a length in the King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot last month. William Haggas's colt was among the initial entries for last weekend's Group One King George VI at Ascot and will be a warm order for this traditional trial for the St Leger at Doncaster in September. Goodwood 1.20 Best Secret (nb) 1.55 Coppull 2.30 Merchant 3.05 Sea The Fire 3.45 Ruby's Profit (nap) 4.20 Steel Drum 4.55 Quiescent 5.30 Kaleido Nottingham 2.18 Nebrook Star 2.53 Moby Quick 3.30 Dancingintherain 4.05 Mini Mac 4.40 Blenheim Lad 5.15 Dogged Wolverhampton 5.45 Intervention 6.15 Loving Apprentice 6.45 Chutzpal 7.15 Change Sings 7.45 Love Is The Law 8.15 Mr Swivell 8.45 Bint Al Daar Epsom 5.50 Etretat 6.25 Norfolk Blue 7.00 King's Castle 7.30 Brielle 8.00 Uncle Simon 8.30 Muscika Goodwood 3.45 Ascot's stiff final furlong was the undoing of Ruby's Profit at the Royal meeting last month but this return to a sharp five furlongs should see her in a much better light. The speedy front-runner was a course-and-distance winner in May off a 5lb lower mark and she remains well-handicapped on that form.
Irish Times
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Pacemaker Qirat stuns Sussex Stakes big guns at Goodwood to win at 150-1
Field Of Gold's pacemaker Qirat caused an almighty shock with a 150-1 victory in the Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. John and Thady Gosden's Field Of Gold was a 1-3 shot to follow in the hoofprints of his sire Kingman by adding this prestigious Group One contest to his previous top-level victories in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St James's Palace Stakes. The Ralph Beckett-trained Qirat, who was last seen finishing 27th of 30 runners in the Royal Hunt Cup, was supplemented for the race last week at a cost of £70,000 (€81,000) in a bid to ensure the red-hot favourite had a strong gallop to aim at. But the race did not go to script, with Qirat keeping up the gallop to emerge triumphant under Richard Kingscote, despite the best efforts of Rosallion, who was a neck adrift at the line. READ MORE Field Of Gold, meanwhile, had to settle for a laboured fourth, with Aidan O'Brien's Henri Matisse third. Beckett said: 'Richard has always been a very good judge of the clock. The last thing I said to him was keep going with this fellow, he could run really well. 'He loves this place and I wanted to enter him because his work was really good. It's a horse race and anything can happen.' Qirat's dam, Emulous, also produced last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner for Beckett in Bluestocking. He went on: 'I thought he looked a million beforehand and that in the race he would set the pace from the front, and the longer he lasted the better for those concerned with the favourite. 'He's always threatened to be a good horse and today he showed it. 'What about the mare? To come up with Bluestocking and him. She's been like a hole in the wall, like a cash machine.' Kingscote, who recently announced he is taking up a licence in Hong Kong, said: 'I feel like a villain but when I saw it wasn't a grey nose [Field Of Gold] coming towards me I just kept going.'
The Sun
14 hours ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Stunned silence at Goodwood as 150-1 no-hoper packemaker Qirat pulls off one of the biggest upsets ever
NO WAY No one saw it coming THERE was a stunned silence at Goodwood as 150-1 Qirat saw off 1-3 Field Of Gold to win the Group 1 Sussex Stakes. Qirat was only in the race as a pacemaker for the John & Thady Gosden-trained Field Of Gold. 3 3 3 But he stole a march on the field and eventually Derby-winning jockey Richard Kingscote gave up waiting for Field Of Gold to appear. He ploughed on and saw off a fast-finishing Rosallion to seal one of the biggest shocks ever - a win worth £600,000. A stunned John Gosden said: "We were sitting back a long way and the pacemaker goes and wins it. "He ran on but didn't seem too well balanced on the track. "But I'm not making excuses. "We ignored the pacemaker and we paid the price. "William (Buick, jockey) said he didn't seem comfortable and as soon as he asked him for more, the engine wasn't there." The previous biggest winner of this race was 20-1 - showing the scale of the Qirat shock. Beckett said: "I'm sorry - but I'm not that sorry!" More to follow. Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who:
The Sun
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Like buying money – The two odds-on ‘steering jobs' tipped to leave bookies in tears at Glorious Goodwood
ANTE-POST punting is a dangerous road littered with torn betslips and shattered dreams. But every now and then a seemingly golden opportunity presents itself. 1 Too good to be true? Maybe. But unless you take the plunge you'll never know. Punters who like to smash into favourites at very short prices will often talk about the notion of 'buying money'. It doesn't always work. Just this week we saw 2-13 Royal Ascot runner-up Thesecretadversary beaten by a 28-1 outsider. But you'd hope there would be fewer chances for things to go so seismically wrong in Group 1s. And that's where John Gosden's Field Of Gold and Aidan O'Brien's Illinois come in. Both are currently odds-on for their respective races at next week's Glorious Goodwood. Field Of Gold, who perhaps should have won the 2,000 Guineas, and definitely did win the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes, is a best-price 1-2 to win the Sussex Stakes next Wednesday. His big market rival - and second-fav - Rosallion was a big drifter on the Betfair Exchange and could be sent elsewhere. Illinois was second to Trawlerman in last month's Ascot Gold Cup. But he is a proven Group-level performer - albeit he has always come up short in Group 1s - and last finished outside the top two in April 2024 - NINE races ago. He is a best-price 8-11 to win the 2m feature next Tuesday. There is a chance O'Brien could run recent brilliant Newmarket scorer Scandinavia instead. But this looks a golden opportunity for Illinois to get his Group 1, with 4-1 second-fav French Master moving up from handicaps. Backing shorties in a double like this wouldn't be my go-to method of punting. But if you put the pair together now you'd still get better than evens, with a £20 punt returning £48.44 with Ladbrokes. Buying money? Like everything, it comes with its risks... Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who:
