Rosallion leads strong 3-year-old contingent in Sussex Mile

The Sussex Stakes at the Glorious Goodwood Festival marks a departure point for 3-year-old milers, the sophomores leaving age-restricted competition to set out in the world of weight-for-age racing against older rivals. Few accord the older set much chance on Wednesday in the Group 1 Sussex.

Six passed the final entry stage for the Sussex, run around one gentle bend on a quirky course that’s not for every horse, and all the early week antepost money was coming in on the trio of 3-year-olds, principally Rosallion, priced at about even money Monday. Rosallion already has encountered his two divisional rivals. He beat Henry Longfellow a neck last month in the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Rosallion kicked off his 2024 campaign with a second-place finish behind Notable Speech in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Notable Speech, a Charlie Appleby-trained Godolphin homebred, raced on the all-weather circuit this past winter and ran his career mark to 4 for 4 in the May 4 Guineas before coming crashing down to earth with a seventh-place St. James’s Palace showing. Appleby told overseas media this week neither he nor any veterinarian had uncovered a clear excuse for the clunker. But even if Notable Speech bounces back to his best, Rosallion and Henry Longfellow have improved since May themselves.

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Rosallion, a Group 1 winner at 2, went from a Guineas defeat in England to a Guineas win in Ireland, and the colt hit a new peak in the St. James’s Palace. Henry Longfellow, who capped a perfect three-start juvenile campaign in the National Stakes last fall, had performed below his baseline making his 3-year-old bow in the French guineas. At Ascot, he got a perfect trip racing just outside and behind his pacesetting stablemate Unquestionable while getting first run on Rosallion.

Rosallion through much of the St. James’s was the third horse from the front while locked into a spot along the rail. Short of room while traveling sweetly to the 1 1/2-furlong marker, Rosallion quickened beautifully once into the clear, and he ran down Henry Longfellow to win going away, his superiority greater than the colt’s bare margin of victory. Richard Hannon Jr. trains Rosallion and said that this colt, by Blue Point, is the best miler to come out of the Hannon yard since Canford Cliffs, who won the 2010 Sussex for Richard Hannon Sr.

The older horses – Facteur Cheval, Maljoom, and Sonny Liston – give the younger set eight pounds. Facteur Cheval, campaigned by Team Valor International and Gary Barber, won the $5 million Dubai Turf in March but failed to approach that level checking in sixth in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot.

The Goodwood course as of Monday was rated good, and the Sussex, as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, offers its winner an automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Mile and a generous travel allotment.

The winner likely is a 3-year-old, and his name probably is Rosallion.

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