Solow earns berth in Breeders’ Cup Mile by winning Sussex

Solow won his eighth consecutive race and earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 31 with a half-length win in Wednesday’s $1.56 million Sussex Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse in England.

Solow (2-5) raced as a stalker in the field of eight before taking the lead with a furlong to go. Ridden by Maxime Guyon, Solow was tested to the finish by Arod, a 6-1 shot who set the pace. Gabrial, a 50-1 outsider, finished third.

The Sussex Stakes was part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth for the BC Mile to the winner.

The relatively narrow margin of victory by the 5-year-old Solow was not a surprise, trainer Freddy Head said.

“He didn’t have the best of runs,” Head said. “He was always in the open and saw a bit of daylight, and he is getting a bit lazy with age, too. Usually, we like to have him covered up. He does exactly what he needs to do.”

Owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, Solow has won 11 of 16 starts in his career. Solow’s winning streak includes five races this year. He has won four consecutive Group 1 races – the Dubai Turf in March, the Prix d’Ispahan in May, the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, and the Sussex Stakes.

Head did not specifically mention the Breeders’ Cup Mile as a possible start for Solow but said the $1.56 million Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 17 is a possibility.

The Sussex Stakes is the richest race of the five-day Glorious Goodwood meeting, which continues through Saturday. Friday’s top race is the week’s leading sprint, the $468,000 King George Stakes at five furlongs.

The field of 15 is led by Move In Time, who won the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp Racecourse in France last year. A 7-year-old gelding, Move In Time won his first start this year in an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Hamilton, Scotland, on June 30.

Other contenders include Muthmir, who was third in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 16, and the 10-year-old Kingsgate Native, a multiple stakes winner.

Longtime race-caller dies

Peter O’Sullevan, a race-caller who described the Grand National for more than 50 years, died on Wednesday in London. He was 97.

Born in Ireland, O’Sullevan was a popular race-caller on BBC television and radio and worked as a racing correspondent for 36 years for the Daily Express. O’Sullevan owned horses, notably the stakes winners Attivo and Be Friendly.

O’Sullevan, who retired in 1997, recently worked on behalf of animal-welfare charities.