Without Parole headlines eight declared runners for today’s £1,059,250 Gr1 Qatar Sussex Stakes, one of Europe’s premier all-aged mile races at Goodwood on day two of the Qatar Goodwood Festival.
Andrea Atzeni – enjoyed a big day
First run in 1841, this year’s renewal of the Gr1 Qatar Sussex Stakes is the richest ever.
Without Parole (John Gosden/Andrea Atzeni) maintained his unbeaten record with a comfortable success in the Gr1 St James’s Palace Stakes over a mile at Royal Ascot, defeating Gustav Klimt (Aidan O’Brien IRE/Ryan Moore) by a half-length. The three-year-old son of Frankel bids to provide Newmarket handler Gosden with his second success in the Qatar Sussex Stakes following Kingman’s 2014 victory.
Fresh from saddling the first and second in Saturday’s King George & Queen Elizabeth VI Stakes (Sponsored by QIPCO), Sir Michael Stoute is targeting his fourth victory in the Qatar Sussex Stakes and first since 1998 courtesy of supplementary entry Expert Eye (James Doyle). Owned and bred by Khalid Abdullah, the joint winning-most owner in the race’s history with six victories, the three-year-old son of Acclamation returned to form with a scintillating four and a half-length victory in the Gr3 Jersey Stakes over seven furlongs at Royal Ascot. Expert Eye, supplemented at a cost of £70,000 for Wednesday’s contest, plundered the Gr2 Qatar Vintage Stakes in great style at the 2017 Qatar Goodwood Festival.
The battalion of older horses is headed by Beat The Bank (Andrew Balding/Jim Crowley), who defeated Lord Glitters (David O’Meara/Daniel Tudhope) by a neck in the Gr2 Summer Mile at Ascot on July 14. Beat The Bank, winner of the Gr3 Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes at last year’s Qatar Goodwood Festival, represents Kingsclere handler Balding, who captured the 2017 Qatar Sussex Stakes with Here Comes When.
Lord Glitters, one of two potential runners for Yorkshire-based David O’Meara, was second in the Gr1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and could be joined by stable companion So Beloved (Adam Kirby), who finished second in a Gr2 contest at the Curragh earlier this month and is declared to run in today’s Gr2 Qatar Lennox Stakes over seven furlongs.
Dual Gr2 Celebration Mile winner Lightning Spear (David Simcock/Oisin Murphy) is yet to score in G1 company but filled the runner-up position in the 2018 Gr1 Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes and finished a close third in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Unexposed three-year-old French challenger Orbaan (Andre Fabre FR/Silvestre de Sousa), successful on his last two starts at Maisons-Lafitte and latterly in Listed company at Saint-Cloud on July 1, completes the eight declared runners.
The Qatar Sussex Stakes is part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.
