Bow Echo Joins Frankel in the History Books with Sussex Stakes Win at Goodwood
The unbeaten colt survived a nightmare passage to beat old rival Gstaad by half a length and become the first horse since Frankel to sweep the 2,000 Guineas, St James's Palace and Sussex Stakes in one season.
Great milers are measured at Goodwood, and on Wednesday Bow Echo passed the test the hard way. The unbeaten three-year-old won the Group 1 Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes by half a length, running down Gstaad — his shadow all season — with Opera Ballo a further length and three-quarters back in third.
The win makes Bow Echo the first horse since the mighty Frankel in 2011 to complete the 2,000 Guineas, St James's Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes treble in a single season, and stretches his perfect career record to six wins from six starts.
Boxed in, then gone
It nearly went wrong. Sent off the odds-on favourite, Bow Echo spent much of the straight boxed in behind rivals before 20-year-old jockey Billy Loughnane found a gap in the final stages — and the colt's trademark turn of foot did the rest.
"He's been in a couple of scraps recently and he really had to show his fight today, and had to show his turn of foot," said trainer George Boughey, who compared the son of Night Of Thunder to "a motorbike" in his post-race reaction to the Racing Post.
"I know how lucky I am to have a horse like this at this age, I just feel so privileged," said Loughnane.
For Gstaad, it was a third narrow defeat to the same rival — beaten in the Guineas, by a short head at Royal Ascot, and now by half a length on the Sussex Downs. There are few better rivalries in the sport right now.
What's next
As a "win and you're in" Challenge Series race, the Sussex earns Bow Echo an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland on October 30–31, which Boughey has indicated is the end-of-season target — a chance to take the unbeaten record to America.
The win capped a big opening half of Glorious Goodwood: a day earlier, Scandinavia, ridden by Ryan Moore for Aidan O'Brien, ran away with the Goodwood Cup by eight and a half lengths from Trawlerman.