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Sussex Stakes

United Kingdom | FEATURE RACE GUIDE

History

QIRAT winning the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood in Chichester, England.
QIRAT winning the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood in Chichester, England. Picture: Getty Images

The Sussex Stakes is a Group 1 race run under Weight For Age conditions for the milers at Goodwood conducted by the Goodwood Racecourse.

The Sussex Stakes is run over the mile. It was first run in 1841 but was a six furlong two year old race. In its current form, it essentially began in 1878.

After initially being for 2yos and then just for 3yos in 1878, 4yos ran in it from 1960 and older horses from 1975.

It is now the feature race of the Goodwood Festival in late July or early August known as 'Glorious Goodwood'.

Early runnings of the race were marred by walkovers on 14 occasions.

The Sussex Stakes was not run during the War years bar 1941 when at Newmarket.

It is basically the first chance for the three year olds to take on the older horses at the mile and is billed that way.

Three year olds have had a phenomenal run of late. Even though all ages can compete, since 1960 the 3yos have won 44 of the 65 runnings. In fact three of them ran in 2021 and they ran the trifecta.

Frankel is the only horse to win the Sussex Stakes twice. His win in 2011 was his first attempt out of his own age bracket, beating three rivals by five lengths. He did almost the same thing 12 months on.

Sir Gordon Richards has most wins with eight over a 24 year period starting in the 1920s. Sir Henry Cecil won it seven times ending with the legend Frankel.

Baaeed continued the incredible start to his career making it 9 from 9 with another dominant win in 2022.

In 2025 there was a monumental upset as Qirat scored at 150-1, which made it the biggest priced winner of a G1 in Britain and Ireland.

The Sussex Stakes was worth £1,057,500 in 2025.

Notable winners of the Sussex Stakes include Notable Speech (2024), Paddington (2023), Baaeed (2022), Alcohol Free (2021), Too Darn Hot (2019), Solow (2015), Kingman (2014), Toronado (2013), Frankel (2011/2012), Canford Cliffs (2010), Rip Van Winkle (2009), Henrythenavigator (2008), Rock Of Gibraltar (2002), Giant's Causeway (2000), Bigstone (1993), Soviet Star (1987), Noalcoholic (1983), Kris (1979), Brigadier Gerard (1971), Palestine (1950), Thrush (1905), Orme (1892) and Rayon D'Or (1879).

The 2025 Sussex Stakes was won by Qirat from Rosallion and Henri Matisse.


Racing and Sports

Previous Sussex Stakes Winners

Date Horse Jockey WT Trainer BP
QIRAT (GB) 4G
SHOWCASING (GB) - EMULOUS (GB) DANSILI (GB)
RICHARD KINGSCOTE 61.5 R M BECKETT 2
NOTABLE SPEECH (GB) 3C
DUBAWI (IRE) - SWIFT ROSE (IRE) INVINCIBLE SPIRIT (IRE)
WILLIAM BUICK 58.0 C APPLEBY 2
PADDINGTON (GB) 3C
SIYOUNI (FR) - MODERN EAGLE (GER) MONTJEU (IRE)
RYAN MOORE 58.5 A P O'BRIEN 4
BAAEED (GB) 4H
SEA THE STARS (IRE) - AGHAREED (USA) KINGMAMBO (USA)
JIM CROWLEY 61.5 W J HAGGAS 2
ALCOHOL FREE (IRE) 3F
NO NAY NEVER (USA) - PLYING (USA) HARD SPUN (USA)
OISIN MURPHY 56.0 ANDREW BALDING 9
MOHAATHER (GB) 4H
SHOWCASING (GB) - ROODEYE (GB) INCHINOR (GB)
JIM CROWLEY 61.0 M P TREGONING 4
TOO DARN HOT (GB) 3C
DUBAWI (IRE) - DAR RE MI (GB) SINGSPIEL (IRE)
LANFRANCO DETTORI 57.0 JOHN GOSDEN 3
LIGHTNING SPEAR (GB) 7H
PIVOTAL (GB) - ATLANTIC DESTINY (IRE) ROYAL ACADEMY (USA)
OISIN MURPHY 61.0 DAVID SIMCOCK 4
HERE COMES WHEN (IRE) 7G
DANEHILL DANCER (IRE) - QUAD'S MELODY (IRE) SPINNING WORLD (USA)
JIM CROWLEY 61.0 ANDREW BALDING 5
THE GURKHA (IRE) 3C
GALILEO (IRE) - CHINTZ (IRE) DANEHILL DANCER (IRE)
RYAN MOORE 57.0 A P O'BRIEN 3
SOLOW (GB) 5G
SINGSPIEL (IRE) - HIGH MAINTENANCE (FR) HIGHEST HONOR (FR)
MAXIME GUYON 61.0 FREDDIE HEAD 5
KINGMAN (GB) 3C
INVINCIBLE SPIRIT (IRE) - ZENDA (GB) ZAMINDAR (USA)
JAMES DOYLE 57.0 JOHN GOSDEN 4
TORONADO (IRE) 3C
HIGH CHAPARRAL (IRE) - WANA DOO (USA) GRAND SLAM (USA)
R HUGHES 56.5 R HANNON 7
FRANKEL (GB) 4H
GALILEO (IRE) - KIND (IRE) DANEHILL (USA)
T P QUEALLY 60.5 SIR HENRY CECIL 3
FRANKEL (GB) 3C
GALILEO (IRE) - KIND (IRE) DANEHILL (USA)
T P QUEALLY 56.5 SIR HENRY CECIL 3
CANFORD CLIFFS (IRE) 3C
TAGULA (IRE) - MRS MARSH (GB) MARJU (IRE)
R HUGHES 56.5 R HANNON 1

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