Notable Speech’s form line still reads like a snippet of computer code, but “111101” holds the promise of a much brighter conclusion to his three‑year‑old career after Charlie Appleby’s colt returned to winning form in the Group One Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on Wednesday, six weeks since the meek surrender of his unbeaten record in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Notable Speech beat just one rival home at Ascot, a performance that still mystifies his connections, with Henry Longfellow, the runner-up, nearly six lengths in front of him at the line. As a result, it was little surprise that, following the scratching earlier in the week of Rosallion from this contest, all the money in the morning was for Henry Longfellow, who was backed from 6-4 to 11-10 while Notable Speech took a walk from 13-8 to 3-1.
In the days before the “cutaway”, railing that opens up the track to make it easier for horses to make a challenge here just over a furlong from home, the punters who kept faith with Notable Speech would have been ageing very rapidly as the five runners headed towards the furlong pole. He was clearly travelling like a winner as the front-running Henry Longfellow started to come under a ride, but he was up against the far rail in what was once the notorious Goodwood “pocket”.
Since 2022, however, the cutaway has significantly reduced the number of traffic problems in the Goodwood straight, and William Buick was perfectly placed to take advantage. He fired Notable Speech down the inside at the first opportunity and his colt’s exceptional turn of foot took him clear in half a dozen strides.
Appleby, Notable Speech’s trainer, has enjoyed more top-level success in the US this year than he has in Britain, and this was just his second domestic Group One win in 2024, adding to the same colt’s 2,000 Guineas success in May.
But it was enough to propel him into the top three of the trainers’ championship, and underlined the winner’s very obvious potential for a big run in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar in November, when his instant acceleration should be a potent weapon in the short home stretch.
“He just didn’t turn up [at Ascot], simple as that,” Appleby said. “The question will probably always be asked, and I will probably never have the answer to it, unfortunately.
“Coming into today, his preparation was faultless and pre-race, we shaved a couple of kilos back off him again. Was that winning or losing? I don’t think so, to be honest. I think he is just a horse who turned up with his A-game again.”
There was a controversial conclusion to the Group Three Oak Tree Stakes as Raqiya, second across the line behind the 5-2 favourite, Jabaara, was awarded the race in the stewards’ room after an inquiry decided that Owen Burrows’s filly would have won had she not been impeded by Jabaara in the closing stages.
Jabaara and James Doyle looked sure to go clear and win convincingly when she hit the front inside the final furlong but she idled and drifted across towards Raqiya on the far rail. Jim Crowley, Raqiya’s jockey, was forced to pull around Jabaara and then closed to within a head at the line, but it was still a surprise that the officials reached the required level of certainty that the result had been affected in order to reverse the placings.
The two jockeys, unsurprisingly, had very different views of the incident. “I stopped for about three strides,” Crowley said. “There’s no question we have had to stop. Four strides, easily, and then you have lost your momentum. With a clear run and without losing her momentum, she would have won.”
Doyle, though, said Crowley “has had to just ease off for a run but he hasn’t had to check”, adding: “She [Jabaara] has kicked clear [and] has completely shut down from the minute she’s hit the front. She did feel the second coming and found at the line.”
Plenty appears a sparkling bet
French-trained runners have struggled to make an impact at the highest level in Britain in recent years, but Goliath’s impressive success in the King George at Ascot on Saturday could herald at least a mini-revival in French fortunes as Patrice Cottier’s Sparkling Plenty (3.35) looks over-priced at around 11-2 for the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on Thursday.
The market prefers the chances of Opera Singer, last year’s champion juvenile filly, and Emily Upjohn, the 2023 Coronation Cup winner, but both are still looking for their first success of the year and have little in hand of their main rivals on ratings.
Sparkling Plenty, though, arrives as a Classic winner, having emerged as a narrow winner of the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly in June, and while the first four home there were covered by around a length, she showed an impressive turn of foot to charge from almost last to first in a race that was run at a crawl. That change of gear could be decisive over this sharp 10-furlong trip.
Goodwood 1.50 Sisyphean 2.25 The Strikin Viking 3.00 Jan Brueghel 3.35 Sparkling Plenty (nb) 4.10 Brighton Boy 4.45 Kendall Roy (nap) 5.20 Tap Dancer 5.55 Bill’s Baar
Nottingham 2.00 Royal Equerry 2.35 Sergeant Mayer 3.10 Shamrock Bay 3.45 Adelabella 4.20 Palazzo Persico 4.55 Wannabeawallaby
Epsom Downs 6.00 Big Bear Hug 6.30 Parole D’Oro 7.00 Dreamrocker 7.30 Sir Garfield 8.05 Taritino 8.35 Alpine Girl
Wolverhampton 5.45 Muscika 6.15 Blue Day 6.45 Berkshire Nugget 7.15 Supaspecialawesome 7.45 Bint Al Daar 8.15 Reaching High 8.45 Many A Star
Goodwood 1.50 Tom Eaves faces a very tricky task aboard Sisyphean from the widest draw in stall 14, but it may not prove unsurmountable as Kevin Ryan’s colt had any amount in hand when cantering up off a 10lb lower mark at York last time.
Goodwood 2.25 Leading Qatari trainer Hamad al Jahani has drawn a blank with his 10 UK runners on turf since setting up a satellite operation in Newmarket at the start of this season, but The Strikin Viking, a big-money recruit from Kevin Ryan’s stable since his last start, could well break his duck here. This is probably a weaker Group Two than the Railway Stakes at the Curragh in June, where The Strikin Viking was only a half-length behind Henri Matisse, one of the current leaders of Aidan O’Brien’s juvenile pack.
Goodwood 3.00 Jan Brueghel remains unbeaten after two starts and a 3lb penalty for his narrow win in a Group Three at the Curragh last time may not be enough to stop him following up here with the extra two furlongs sure to suit.
