The teeth, perhaps, were slightly gritted, but Richard Hannon offered some perspective after watching his colt, Rosallion, finish second to the 150-1 shot Qirat in the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s horse racing,\u201d the trainer said. \u201cThat\u2019s what keeps us all in it. It\u2019s not a great day when you\u2019re second in these races but we\u2019re lucky to be part of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mundane words like \u201cshock\u201d and \u201cupset\u201d do not come close to describing the result of this Group One contest, one of the most prestigious and prized events in the global racing calendar, which was won by a horse that finished 27th of 30 runners in the Royal Hunt Cup Handicap on his previous trip to the track. Qirat, as the stewards drily noted afterwards, \u201cappeared to show improved form compared with its previous run\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ralph Beckett\u2019s \u00adgelding was widely assumed to be in the race simply to ensure an even pace before Field Of Gold, the 1-3 favourite and, like Qirat, in the colours of the Juddmonte operation, swept through the field to victory. It was, as it transpired, a rash assumption.<\/p>\n
The first part of the script played out much as expected, as Serengeti, the pacemaker for Aidan O\u2019Brien\u2019s Henri Matisse, worked his way to the front after a slow start and then went clear with Qirat and Richard Kingscote in close attendance.<\/p>\n
At the point around two \u00adfurlongs out, Field Of Gold was expected to start closing them down. \u00adHowever,\u00a0it soon became clear that the \u00adfavourite was struggling to make\u00a0ground. Instead, it was Sean Levy, on \u00adRosallion, who set off in pursuit of the leaders, but as Serengeti dropped away, Qirat stayed on well and he was still two lengths in front at the \u00adfurlong pole.<\/p>\n
Rosallion closed all the way to the winning post but Kingscote \u2013 who called the result \u201ca bit surreal\u201d \u2013 and Qirat still had a neck to spare at the\u00a0line.<\/p>\n
Qirat was the longest-priced winner of a Group One race in Britain since the grading system was introduced in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n
Field Of Gold was clearly a long way below his best on his first visit to this tricky downland track, but Kingscote also deserves great credit for a no-nonsense ride at a frontrunners\u2019 track, in a race where his rivals left themselves with too much to do.<\/p>\n
Beckett, Qirat\u2019s trainer, was certainly surprised to find himself in the winner\u2019s enclosure afterwards, but not entirely astonished. \u201cWe set out to go 12-second furlongs,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the plan and what he did. It is as simple as that.<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t sit close to him and that is the end result. When he went past Serengeti, I could see they were not coming and I was fairly confident he would not stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kingscote described the outcome as \u201cnot what I expected this morning\u201d but the race was also a fine advertisement for his talent for judging the fractions in front, a gift that should find plenty of new fans when Kingscote sets off for a four-month stint in Hong Kong from the start of September.<\/p>\n
\u201cTowards the cut-away [around two furlongs out] I was thinking he was going well,\u201d Kingscote said, \u201cbut you always expect the horses rated 20lb higher to be coming through.<\/p>\n
Qirat and Richard Kingscote return to the winner\u2019s enclosure after winning the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. Photograph: Andrew Matthews\/PA<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is better to be going off [to Hong Kong] on a positive note. I\u2019m looking forward to the opportunity but I have not burned bridges so I can always come back if need be.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Gosden, the trainer of Field Of Gold, said that the favourite \u201cdidn\u2019t seem too well-balanced on the track\u201d, adding: \u201cHe got a little unbalanced coming out of the dip into the bend, but I am not making any excuses. They ignored the pacemaker and paid the price.\u201d<\/p>\n