By Tom Frary
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 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.”
Gelded before his three-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 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 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.”
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.”
Of Field Of Gold, he said, “The rest of the field seemed to get detached from the two pacemakers, but I think ultimately William [Buick] felt he didn't handle the track and felt he was a bit flat today. We don't know why, but we all have off days–human and equines and all manner of beasts. Whether there's an issue there or something we're not sure, we'll have to investigate, but he's definitely not the Field Of Gold that we've all seen and know. I'm sure he'll be back and there'll be another day.”
“He's had a good enough break since Ascot, John and Thady have freshened him up and they've been happy with how he's trained,” he added. “He looked good today and William said going to the start he felt very fresh, so maybe he was a little bit too fresh. We did give him a good break after Ascot and maybe we were a little bit kind on him. We'll get him home and check him out first and I think we'll have to make a plan after that.”
Rosallion's jockey Sean Levey said, “I knew I'd be more forward than Henri Matisse and Field Of Gold today, but the winner was out and away. I thought the two in front had gone hard enough to come back, but that's not the way it played out. If I'd tracked up a little better, he'd have won.”
Aidan O'Brien said of Henri Matisse, “Ryan was very happy, but he felt that as a three-year-old baby he found Goodwood a little bit 'different' although he kept coming. We think there's more to come and we haven't got it right with him yet, so he could go back to France for those mile races.”
150/1 WINNER 🤯
Qirat lands the @VisitQatar Sussex Stakes! 🏆@Goodwood_Races pic.twitter.com/jhSulug5zp
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) July 30, 2025
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 (Camelot). She also produced Desirous (Kingman), in turn the dam of Frankel's Listed Lyric Fillies' Stakes winner Sand Gazelle and War And Peace, 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.
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