Stellar field of nine set to clash in Sussex Stakes

A mouth-watering field of nine have been entered for next week’s Sussex Stakes, which could include a clash between the respective winners of the English and the Irish 2000 Guineas. 

The horses in question are Siskin and Kameko, and the former is set to race for the first time in Britain having won each of his first five starts over in Ireland - including an impressive victory in last month’s Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh.

Siskin is the current 13/8 favourite for the Sussex Stakes, and he looks set to lock horns with the Andrew Balding-trained Kameko, who won last month’s 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. Kameko was unable to build on that with victory in the Epsom Derby at the beginning of the month, but he’s set to drop back in trip here on route to next month’s International Stakes at York.

The Sussex Stakes sees the classic generation of colts take on their elders over a mile for the first time, and the four-year-olds Circus Maximus and Mohaather will both be hoping to make their presence felt. The latter was a luckless seventh behind the former in last month’s Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, when struggling to get a clear run, but he showed his class when winning the Group 2 Summer Mile at Ascot last time, and is a fascinating inclusion.

Circus Maximus sealed the third top level success of his career at last month’s Royal meeting, and he heads a squad of five entries from the Aidan O’Brien team, which also includes Arizona and the 2000 Guineas runner-up Wichita. 

The prospective field of nine is completed by the Roger Varian-trained San Donato, who was three and three quarter lengths behind Mohaather in the Summer Mile earlier this month, and the O’Brien-trained pair of Lancaster House and Vatican City. 

Also on the card is the Molecomb Stakes, a Group 3 contest for two-year-olds over five furlongs, which could be contested by a maximum field of 13 runners.

This race has been won by the likes of Kachy and Yalta in recent years, and among the entries for this year’s renewal are impressive novice stakes winners Night On Earth and Army Of India, the listed scorer Sardinia Sunset and the regally-bred Chief Little Hawk.