2023 Sussex Stakes Betting Tips, Best Bookmakers & Free Bets
Day 2 of Glorious Goodwood is headlined by the Sussex Stakes.
This lucrative Group One is one of the most important races in flat racing, as the best three-year-olds and older horses clash over eight furlongs.
Betting on the Sussex Stakes is extremely popular with both local and international punters.
Sussex Stakes Key Facts
Date
Wednesday 2nd August, 2023
Track
Goodwood
Distance
1m
Class
Group 1
Race Type
Set weights
Prize money
£1 million
Age
3YO+
2023 Sussex Stakes Day 2 Card
It's all about the Sussex Stakes on the first day of August. The other races on the card don't possess group value but provide a nice betting undercard.
Race No.
Race Name
1
Goodwood Handicap
2
Betting Exchange Handicap
3
Molecomb Stakes
4
Sussex Stakes
5
Fillies' Stakes
6
Fillies' Handicap
7
Cantor Fitzgerald Handicap
2023 Sussex Stakes Odds
No odds are yet available for the Sussex Stakes.
2023 Sussex Stakes Tips
Our preview of the Sussex Stakes will be published in the weeks building up to Glorious Goodwood 2022.
2022 Sussex Stakes Result
Position
Name
SP
1st
Baaeed
1/6f
2nd
Modern Games
12/1
3rd
Alcohol Free
10/1
2022 Sussex Stakes Entries
Baaeed has extended his unbeaten record to eight this season, following effortless wins in the Lockinge and the Queen Anne Stakes. Haggas' star could face three-year-olds for the first time next Wednesday, but that hasn't stopped bet365 from listed Baaeed as their overwhelming 4/11 favourite.
Leading the charge against the market leader is Charlie Appleby's Coroebus. William Buick's mount built on his 2000 Guineas success with a narrow victory in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and Baaeed will have to give Appleby's Classic winner eight pounds at the weights.
Defending champion, Alcohol Free could step back up to a mile after winning the July Cup on her most recent start. Real World could square off against Baaeed again, having followed the favourite home at Newbury and Royal Ascot.
Aldaary could join stablemate Baaeed in the field at Glorious Goodwood. Aidan O'Brien has entered up Queen Anne third, Order Of Australia and Prix Jean Prat winner, Tenebrism. Other possible runners include Richard Hannon's Chindit, Ralph Beckett's three-year-old Angel Bleu, and Japanese Group Two winner, Bathrat Leon.
Sussex Stakes History
The first running of the Sussex Stakes was in 1841 and there have been 14 walkovers since, but it has since become the biggest race at Goodwood.
Having previously played second fiddle to the likes of the Goodwood Cup and Stewards' Cup, the Sussex Stakes quickly rose to fame and it's now one of the most popular betting races in the UK.
Only one horse has scored multiple wins in the Sussex Stakes when Frankel won in 2011 and 2012. Which also gave Sir Henry Cecil his sixth and seventh wins in the great race.
He's currently the leading trainer having also trained the likes of Wollow, Kris and Distant View.
Aidan O'Brien is getting closer on five wins. His most recent came with The Gurkha in 2016 and he has lined up thoroughbred champions Giant's Causeway, Rock of Gibraltar, Henrythenavigator and Rip Van Winkle.
Those champions have since become stars in the breeding barn and there's no doubting the impact the Sussex Stakes has on their stud value.
One of the most impressive wins came from Frankel in 2010 when the unbeaten colt scorched 15 lengths clear of the field halfway through the race. The great champion scored by eight lengths in one of the most dominant feats in modern day history.
Frankel would repeat the effort a year later, winning by six lengths at miniscule odds of 1/20.
Only four runners competed in 2014 when Kingman scored by a length. The stake money wasn't as big then but the field was disappointing none-the-less.
A pair of seven-year-olds came out on top in 2017 and '18. First, Here Comes When hacked up through heavy ground to beat odds-on shot Ribchester. He was followed into the winners' enclosure by Lightning Spear, who handed trainer David Simcock his first victory.
2019 saw Too Darn Hot follow up a win in the Prix Jean Prat with a strong victory over Circus Maximus in the Sussex Stakes.
Mohaather then defeated Circus Maximus and Siskin to win his first Group One in the 2020 Sussex Stakes. Alcohol Free then beat Poetic Flare and Snow Lantern to win the Sussex Stakes for Andrew Balding.
Sussex Stakes Betting
Guide
Here Comes When caused an upset in 2017 when winning at 20/1, but the race had been dominated by favourites for the previous nine years.
Since 2008 when Henrythenavigator won at 4/11, there has been seven favourites win the Sussex Stakes and one second favourite (Toronado at 11/4).
It's the best record for favourites in any British race and it is why punters love betting into the markets.
Odds-on favourites have won six of the last nine races and it typically takes a champion to win the race, hence the short odds.
The small fields also make it easier for the dominant horses to win and even Rip Van Winkle was the favourite after going winless in three previous runs that season.
All but three winners from the last 12 years had been successful at Group 1 level. Rip Van Winkle, Toronado and Here Comes When were all first-time winners at Group 1 level, but all three had won in group grade.
Most of the recent winners had 43 days in between runs, so punters should look for this in the betting guides.
Sussex Stakes Lead Up Races
Three-year-olds often take in the British and Irish 2000 Guineas at the start of the season, before running in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Older horses who plan on running in the Sussex Stakes usually start off in the Lockinge Stakes. The Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot usually follows. Some even drop down in trip having run in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes of the Coral-Eclipse Stakes.
After the Sussex Stakes
The main end-of-season target for horses who run in the Sussex Stakes is the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, run on Champions Day at Ascot in October.
Some even step up in trip and take part in the Irish Champion Stakes, and the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
The Prix du Moulin, run over a mile at Longchamp in September, is another popular target.
Sussex Stakes Trends
Eight of the last 12 winners were aged three of four.
Eight of the last nine winners were tote favourites, with only 2017 winner Here Comes When breaking the streak.
All 12 winners had their most recent run in the last 43 days.
Nine of the last 12 winners had at least one Group 1 win, with Frankel owning seven when winning in 2012.
2023 Sussex Stakes FAQs
When is the Sussex Stakes?
The 2023 Sussex Stakes will take place at 3:15pm on Wednesday 2nd August, 2023.
Where is the Sussex Stakes run?
The Sussex Stakes is held on the second day of the Glorious Goodwood meeting. Glorious Goodwood is one of the most popular flat racing festival of the season, and usually takes place during the final week of July, or the first week of August.
When is Glorious Goodwood?
In 2023, Glorious Goodwood will start on Tuesday 1st August, and end on Saturday 31st July, 2023.
