3 minute read
Racing and Sports preview the 2021 Sussex Stakes from Goodwood.
Poetic Flare headlines the Sussex Stakes on day two from Goodwood's summer festival that wasn't blessed with summer ground on the opening day.
Soft ground should be on the improve on the second day but it still seems an obvious query around Poetic Flare. The most cursory glance at the form guide shows two big, fast high-rating wins on quick ground on either side of soft ground defeats.
The very best of Poetic Flare would likely handle these, his Ascot win towers over the others, but the price makes little real appeal.
Three-year-olds dominate the betting as they look to land another blow against their elders having won the Eclipse and the King George over 10 and 12 furlongs respectively. They were only edged out into second over six and they seemingly hold the aces over the mile here with the older challenge deprived of Palace Pier and looking to be made up of bits and pieces.
The Racing and Sports pricing model likes jockeys and trainers that win a lot, and so the bits and pieces that run for Aidan O'Brien, with Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori jocked up, are given a hope, for all that the 'bits and pieces' tag seems apt for the pair of them.
They sit at 1-1 head to head and so do Snow Lantern and Alcohol Free who are priced up alongside each other as the biggest dangers to the fave.
There's clearly little between them on form. Perhaps Snow Lantern, having improved to win their latest match up, looks the one most likely to go on with it now but the model likes connections and the Oisin/Balding combination is a factor in favour of Alcohol Free.
All that is to say, the betting looks fairly tight here, save for one, Tilsit, who would certainly require a career best to follow up his Summer Mile success but only Snow Lantern has had less racing than him and while Kieran Shoemark doesn't come with the same lustre as a Dettori or Moore he has been very effective in combination with Charlie Hills. 14/1 can undersell his chance of backing up his Goodwood success from 12 months back with another.
Recommended bets: Back Tilsit in the Sussex Stakes.
