GOODWOOD FESTIVAL CLASSIC WINNERS AMONG £1-MILLION G1 QATAR SUSSEX STAKES ENTRIES

Winners of the Classics so far in 2019 plus star older milers (12 individual G1 winners in total) feature among the 35 entries for the £1-million G1 Qatar Sussex Stakes, staged at Goodwood on Wednesday, July 31, day two of the Qatar Goodwood Festival.The Qatar Sussex Stakes, over a mile for three-year-olds and upwards, is the richest race run during the magnificent Qatar Goodwood Festival, which takes place from Tuesday, July 30 through to Saturday, August 3 inclusive, and is part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

Magna Grecia

Among the three-year-olds entered for the 2019 Qatar Sussex Stakes are QIPCO 2000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia (Aidan O’Brien IRE), who came home fifth to impressive Phoenix Of Spain (Charlie Hills) in the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh on May 25.

O’Brien, Ireland’s 21-time champion Flat trainer, has seven entries in total which also include three-year-old filly Hermosa, who followed up victory in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket with an impressive success in the Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas on May 26.

Hermosa

Successful most recently in the Qatar Sussex Stakes with The Gurkha in 2016, O’Brien is seeking a sixth Qatar Sussex Stakes triumph, having also been victorious with Giant’s Causeway (2000), Rock Of Gibraltar (2002), Henrythenavigator (2008) and Rip Van Winkle (2009).

Britain’s reigning champion Flat trainer John Gosden landed the Qatar Sussex Stakes in 2014 with the great Kingman and has three entries this year headed by the 2018 champion two-year-old Too Darn Hot, who was second to Phoenix Of Spain in the Irish 2000 Guineas.

Mustashry

The Newmarket handler has also made an entry for Calyx, last season’s G2 Coventry Stakes winner who lost his unbeaten record when second in the G2 Sandy Lane Stakes over six furlongs at Haydock Park on May 25. Gosden’s third entry is the lightly-raced King Of Comedy, impressive when landing the Listed Heron Stakes at Sandown Park on May 23.

The best mile contest for older horses run so far in Britain this year has been the G1 Al ShaqabLockinge Stakes at Newbury on May 18, which was won by Mustashry (Sir Michael Stoute). The six-year-old had several Qatar Sussex Stakes entries behind him when scoring at the Berkshire venue, including third Accidental Agent (Eve Johnson Houghton), fourth Romanised (Ken Condon IRE), fifth Le Brivido (Aidan O’Brien IRE) and sixth I Can Fly (Aidan O’Brien IRE).Four-year-old Romanised, winner of the G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas last year, stayed on well at Newbury and the Qatar Sussex Stakes is under consideration for the Robert Ng-owned colt.

Stormy Antarctic

Another horse who has made a good start to his 2019 campaign is Stormy Antarctic (Ed Walker), who began the year with success in the G3 Kalkmann Fruhjahrs-Meile at Dusseldorf, Germany, in April before going on to land an easy victory in the G2 Premio Presidentedella Repubblica at Capannelle, Italy, on May 19.The six-year-old also ran some good races in defeat last season, most notably when a staying-on fourth behind Roaring Lion in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in October.

Lightly-raced six-year-old Zabeel Prince (Roger Varian) gained a first G1 success when taking the Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp on May 26, when he had TraisFluors (Andre Fabre FR) in third.

Godolphin has had kits royal blue colours carried to success three times in the Qatar Sussex Stakes and Sheikh Mohammed’s racing operation has three contenders for 2019, headed by Barney Roy (Charlie Appleby).Winner of the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2017 when trained by Richard Hannon, the five-year-old has returned to the track this year after an unsuccessful spell at stud and captured a Listed contest in France on May 23.The other two Godolphin-owned contenders are both trained by Saeed bin Suroor and were G1 winners in France as two-year-olds last year – Royal Marine and Royal Meeting.

Beat The Bank

Other Qatar Sussex Stakes contenders include Beat The Bank (Andrew Balding), who was successful over the course and distance in the G2 Ladbrokes Celebration Mile in 2018 and winner of the G2 Sandown Mile in April this year.

As well as Mustashry, Newmarket-based Sir Michael Stoute has also entered Rawdaa andVeracious, who was third in the G1 Qatar Nassau Stakes over 10 furlongs at the 2018 Qatar Goodwood Festival.