Sussex Stakes and Galway Plate on Wednesday

This column has the day off tomorrow (Wednesday) but we´ll have a quick look at the main events at Goodwood and Galway. At Goodwood, the Group One Sussex Stakes at 16.25 CET is the highlight of the whole week and promises to be a great race, with a clash between the best 3yo miler Canford Cliffs (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes) and the top 4yo and last years winner, Aidan O´Brien´s Rip van Winkle.

With stable jockey Johnny Murtagh suspended, O´Brien has booked British champion Ryan Moore and he is accompanied by a pacemaker Beethoven, ridden by the trainer´ s son Joseph. Beethoven is no slouch either, having won last autumn´s Dewhurst Stakes. Canford Cliffs was very impressive when winning the Irish 2,000 and the St. James´s Palace, but we still prefer Rip van Winkle, who looked very high class last season, especially here. The only one that could upset this pair is Premio Loco (Chris Wall/ George Baker), a winne twice in Germany last year and further improved since. He has been supplemented for this, his first attempt at a Group One, but should certainly finish in the money.

Galway also features its top race of the week, the Galway Plate, a 2 3/4 miles handicap chase at 18.25. The final field is not available at the time of writing, but it will certainly be a maximum field and as always wde open. Dermot Weld remains the trainer to follow here, both on the level and over jumps, and his Majestic Concorde (Robbie McNamara) is the ante-post favourite.