BIG RACE PREVIEW: Poetic Flare out to confirm star status at Glorious Goodwood in the Sussex Stakes.

A cracking renewal of the Sussex Stakes brings together the best of the male and female milers from the classic generation and pits them against some of the best of the older generation. The one notable absentee is the four-year-old Palace Pier however this is still a top class field and they are headed by the super tough and highly progressive Poetic Flare.

Jim Bolger’s colt has looked as good a three year old miler as there is in Europe this season and last time at Royal Ascot in the St James’s Palace Stakes he turned in the performance of the meeting when running away with that particular Group 1 by 4¼ lengths from Lucky Vega in a time that was 2.5 seconds below standard. It earned the son of Dawn Approach a Racing Preview Speed Rating of 87, the highest speed rating awarded to any horse so far this season. He seemed to particularly relish the quick surface at Ascot and although he handles softer going well enough, there is now a strong train of thought that he may produce his best form on firmer ground. Therefore will the recent rain blunt his speed on the Sussex Downs?

He is also taking on two top class three-year-old fillies in the form of Alcohol Free and Snow Lantern. Alcohol Free had a length and a half to spare over Snow Lantern in the Coronation Stakes on heavy ground at the Royal Meeting and those placings were reversed in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket just under three weeks ago when Snow Lantern took her revenge and had Alcohol Free three quarters of a length behind in third place. There should be little between the pair again here with both showing they handle softer ground and in the case of Alcohol Free, she may actively be better for it.

Of the older horses, then Order Of Australia and Lope Y Fernandez look to be the best of them though like Poetic Flare, they may just need top of the ground to be seen at their very best. Tilsit should handle any cut whilst Century Dream will positively relish it, however are either of these horses they good enough to get the job done at this level?

And so if this race were run on genuine good to firm ground, Poetic Flare would be a confident selection. However, the recent rain isn’t ideal and it may just leave him slightly more vulnerable than anticipated.

Suggestion: Poetic Flare