Europe
Qirat provides a masssive upset in the G1 Sussex Stakes
By Tom Frary, TDN Europe
Things like 150-1 pacemakers winning the G1 Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes aren't supposed to happen, but as a rare reminder of the vagaries of horse racing, on Wednesday Juddmonte's Qirat (Showcasing) pulled off the shock outcome as Field Of Gold (Kingman) failed to fire.
Only Rosallion (Blue Point) emerged from the pack of big favourites to threaten the upset late, but the Ralph Beckett-trained half-brother to Bluestocking (Camelot) kept producing to extend his Goodwood record to three-for-three.
A neck separated them at the line, with 2 1/4 lengths back to Henri Matisse (Wootton Bassett) and Field Of Gold finishing 1 1/4 lengths away in fourth.
“That was very surreal,” jockey Richard Kingscote said. “We set out to go an even pace, but when I looked around I was detached–on the rules of racing he was running on his own merits and likes the track, he's very well-balanced and a sweet horse who gave me a great spin. I could feel Rosallion coming, but he kept pulling out.”
“..He (Qirat) was running on his own merits and likes the track, he's very well-balanced and a sweet horse who gave me a great spin.” - Richard Kingscote
Gelded before his 3-year-old campaign, Qirat who is the latest billboard for his G1 Matron Stakes-winning dam Emulous (Dansili) had stepped outside of handicap company only once before being called upon for special duty here. Well-beaten in second in Nottingham's Listed Robin Hood Stakes in October, he had previously shown prowess for this unique circuit when taking two races in 2024 and in one of them he upstaged Witness Stand (Expert Eye) in August.
Obviously unimpressed by that peer's dose of one-upmanship in the Lennox 24 hours earlier, the homebred who had run second in the Victoria Cup and unplaced in first-time blinkers in the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot so far this term was ready to make even bigger waves.
This was an exercise in how you can snatch a Group One at Goodwood without breaking 11 seconds for any of the furlongs, with the next five home easily achieving that feat but to no effect. By the time Rosallion, Henri Matisse and the floundering 1-3 favourite began to try and turn it on three out, Qirat was still on par and in his own private race with Ballydoyle's 'rabbit' Serengeti (Wootton Bassett) who he was able to master approaching the furlong pole. Rosallion's familiar rapid penultimate split got him closest to the race's infidel, but not close enough with his 111% finishing speed contrasting to the winner's 107%.
“Richard has always been a very good judge of the clock and 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,” Beckett explained.
“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.”
Ralph Beckett | Image courtesy of Ralph Beckett
Juddmonte's European racing manager Barry Mahon was charged with making sense of the fliparound. “Ralph did say in the parade ring beforehand, 'this horse is going to run big', and he thought he could finish in the three,” he said. “He's a horse we always felt had a lot of potential. Ralph actually wanted to enter him for this race earlier in the year and in my wisdom I said 'don't be ridiculous', but we ended up having to supplement him.”
“At the end of the day Juddmonte and the owners want to compete at the top level and want to win Group One races,” he added. “Whilst it's not with the horse we thought it would be, we've still won the race, which is the most important thing. I've had people from America and Hong Kong and every sort of racing jurisdiction coming up to me inviting him to run, so hopefully the owners might want to travel him. Ralph knows a thing or two about winning a Breeders' Cup race, so maybe that's where he'll end up.”
The Clarehaven training team suggested the “engine wasn't there” in the immediate aftermath of the contest and now a potential reason for his disappointing performance could have been found.
Field Of Gold was found to be lame on Thursday morning. “We don't have the full picture yet, but he is lame on his left-hind,” Barry Mahon, European racing manager for Juddmonte, said on Thursday morning.
“John called me this morning at 7am and said he was 'off' behind with a bit of swelling in his leg and the vet is due out to see him later today so until we have the full picture we can't fully diagnose it.
“But the fact he is lame suggests that could potentially be why we didn't see the true horse that we know yesterday. We just have to sit tight now until the vet can run through all the tests he can run through.”
Mahon added, “Plans are on ice and the thing with these things is, it might be a week before anything will show up on an X-ray or whatever, so it's not something you will have an answer for straight away.
“But the fact the horse is lame indicates there is an issue and we have to address that. What that is and whether it will be a short fix or a long fix, we just don't know at this stage.”
Barry Mahon | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Pedigree Notes: Qirat, who becomes the fifth Group One winner for his sire, is now the second of that kind out of the aforementioned Emulous in the space of two years after Camelot's Arc, Vermeille and Pretty Polly heroine Bluestocking. She also produced Desirous (Kingman), in turn the dam of Frankel's Listed Lyric Fillies' Stakes winner Sand Gazelle and War And Peace (Frankel), who is responsible for the G3 Prix Chloe and G3 Oh So Sharp Stakes runner-up Cathedral (Too Darn Hot) and Lope De Vega's G3 Ballyogan Stakes runner-up Firebird.
Emulous's Listed-winning full-sister Daring Diva produced the G2 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes scorer Brooch (Empire Maker), who in turn is the dam of Into Mischief's Kentucky Derby and Haskell hero Mandaloun, and is the second dam of the Oh So Sharp winner Merrily (No Nay Never) while the family also includes the GI Canadian International runner-up Alounak by Bluestocking's sire Camelot. Emulous also has the unraced 2-year-old filly Serenetta (Kingman) and a yearling filly by Frankel.
Ralph Beckett duo dead-heat in Group 3
By Sean Cronin, TDN Europe
Ralph Beckett enjoyed the perfect outcome in Wednesday's G3 HKJC World Pool Oak Tree Stakes when his two representatives, Saqqara Sands (Oasis Dream) and Tabiti (Kingman), could not be separated by technology in a photo finish to the seven-furlong contest at Goodwood.
“My daughter was laughing at me because I was going 'go on Rossa, go on Ryan, go on Rossa',” revealed Beckett. “I have definitely not been involved in a finish when two of my horses dead-heated before. William Easterby just told me his father (Tim) did it at Pontefract about 10 years ago, so I am in good company. It is one to remember. They are two really tough fillies and we got our tactics right for once. I am thrilled for the Deers. I fancied Saqqara Sands because she was in really good shape and worked very well at the weekend. I thought she was overpriced. John Deer has been breeding good horses for a long time and this filly has been really tough throughout.
“Tabiti looked like she was going west a bit on us. I wasn't overjoyed with her run in the G1 Fillies' Mile last year and she didn't really show up early on this year. The blinkers have made a difference to her. I am not sure what we will do with them now. Tabiti may go up to a mile, while I am not sure Saqqara Sands wants to. Tabiti could go travelling, she is well suited to that I would think.”
Tabiti, last seen finishing third in Royal Ascot's Sandringham Handicap, set the tempo with her Listed Eternal Stakes-winning stablemate sitting second from flagfall. The pair locked horns passing the quarter-mile pole and engaged in a pulsating ding-dong duel thereafter, hitting the line in unison as the closers failed to make an impact.
Pedigree Notes (Saqqara Sands): Saqqara Sands is the first of two foals out of a full-sister to Listed Possibly Perfect Stakes victrix September Stars (Sea The Stars). Her dam Royal Star (Sea The Stars) is also kin to G3 Rose Of Lancaster Stakes winner Teodoro (Teofilo) and G1 Racing Post Trophy third Altruistic (Galileo). The April-foaled homebred bay's second dam Altesse Imperiale (Rock Of Gibraltar) is a half-sister to four black-type performers headed by GI Diana Stakes and GI Beverly D Stakes heroine Angara (Alzao). Saqqara Sands is a half-sister to the unraced 2-year-old filly Venexia (Bated Breath).
Pedigree Notes (Tabiti): Tabiti is the sixth of seven foals and one of five scorers thrown by a daughter of G1 Gamely Handicap third and G2 Dahlia Handicap-winning matriarch Didina (Nashwan). Descendants of Didina also include Group 1-winning sire Cityscape, multiple Group 1-placed G2 Temple Stakes-winning sire Bated Breath and to the stakes-placed dam of G1 St Leger hero Logician (Frankel). The March-foaled homebred bay is kin to G2 Linlithgow Stakes victor Old Flame (Invincible Spirit), G2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes third Chaleur (Dansili), G3 Ballysax Stakes third Dalvey (Dansili) and the unraced 2-year-old filly Jojoba (New Bay).
Lady Iman overpowers her rivals in the Molecomb
By Sean Cronin, TDN Europe
Ger Lyons had sent just two prior runners across the Irish Sea for the Glorious Goodwood meet, and the trainer struck for his first success when the third, Lady Iman (Starman), overpowered seven rivals, racing under a three-pound penalty, in Wednesday's G3 HKJC World Pool Molecomb Stakes. She had previously annexed the Listed First Flier Stakes and G3 Naas Fillies Sprint and embellished a banner season for her freshman sire with a decisive win in the five-furlong contest.
Lady Iman's victory comes with a free ticket to the $1 million GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and that's at the forefront of the trainer's mind. “The Breeders' Cup is where I'd like to go, but I don't own her,” Lyons said.
“We won it last year with Magnum Force, and as Ryan (Moore) said, if she gets a low draw at Del Mar, she wins it. I went there last year and I never got a thrill like it. If I can dance on that dance floor again, I'm going as that is what racing is about for me.
“What an end of a season, what a show they put on and to be part of it and to win it, wow. Ryan says the G1 Nunthorpe too, but I don't like taking on the older horses. You've got to listen to the experts and I wouldn't know the Nunthorpe if it bit me on the arse, but we'll get her home first. Lady Iman is pretty straightforward and I dropped the ball (last time).
“She was doing everything I asked of her, and it took a good horse of Aidan's (Beautify) to beat her over six furlongs the last day. I genuinely don't think that man has trained better than he has this year. His horses are stepping forward from race to race like I've never seen before and that's not fluke, that's pure talent. He's got some cracking 2-year-olds and that Queen Mary winner (True Love), which we beat, she's a proper racehorse and to see the size of her, the scope of her and the temperament of her. I am walking into these monsters day in and day out, so it's nice to get this win.”
“She (Lady Iman) was doing everything I asked of her, she's a proper racehorse and to see the size of her, the scope of her and the temperament of her. It's nice to get this win.” - Ger Lyons
The 11-8 favourite, who was last seen finishing second behind Beautify (Wootton Bassett) in the G2 Airlie Stud Stakes, stalked the leaders in fifth through the initial fractions. Angled into the clear with a quarter-mile remaining, she powered to the front entering the final furlong and kept on strongly thereafter to comfortably outpoint G2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes third Argentine Tango (Mattmu) by 1 1/2 lengths. The pacesetting Dickensian (Pinatubo) rallied gamely once headed and ran on well to finish a half-length adrift in third.
Pedigree Notes: Lady Iman is the third of four foals and second black-type scorer out of G3 Dick Poole Fillies' Stakes runner-up Lady Aria (Kodiac), the first being G2 Blue Point Sprint and G3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint victor West Acre (Mehmas). Lady Aria, a half-sister to Listed Windsor Castle Stakes runner-up Union Rose (Stimulation), hails from the family of G1 Prix du Jockey Club third Simeon (Lammtarra) and has a yearling colt by Persian Force to come.
