QIPCO Sussex Stakes 2011 – Canford Cliffs sizes up Frankel for a Goodwood double
A mouth watering clash awaits us at Goodwood racecourse when Canford Cliffs, the reigning champion of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at the Royal Ascot, gears up to meet the breathtaking Frankel in Europe’s most iconic mile races, the £300,000 Group 1 Sussex
Stakes.
Performances at the Royal Ascot by both horses confirm the fact that they are the best milers of their respective generation and this ups the stakes for the race, which will unfold on 27 July, second day of the glorious Goodwood.
Sir Henry Cecil’s trained three-year old bay colt, Frankel has had a phenomenal career with seven wins out of seven starts, including the recent Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes at the Royal Ascot, defeating Zoffany by ¾ lengths.
Frankel is the most talked about horse in the world and he has done everything to shore up his reputation to these heights by not even losing once in his two year old career.
Foaled in 2008 in Ireland, Frankel is owned by Khalid Abdullah and named after the legendary Bobby Frankel, late American trainer. Frankel kicked off his two-year old career with a remarkable win in the Royal Lodge Stakes at the Ascot followed by the Dewhurst
Stakes at Newmarket.
At the age of three Frankel stunned the racing world by winning the Group 1 Qatar Investment & Projects Development Holding Company (QIPCO) 2000 Guineas in an emphatic manner by six lengths over Dubawi Gold at the Newmarket, the highest rated performance
of all time.
The son of Galileo will be participating in the all-aged field for the first time at Goodwood. Should he go on to win the Sussex Stakes, Frankel will become the eighth winner to win the 2000 Guineas and the Sussex Stakes in the same season.
The Richard Hannon trained Canford Cliffs has already won the QIPCO Sussex Stakes last year and will be looking to repeat the performance, but this time around he will have Frankel to size up, which could be a tall order for the four-year old bay colt.
Canford Cliffs’s life time record contains seven wins out of ten starts. His impressive Ascot history speaks for his credentials. He bagged an Ascot race in each year of his racing career. Canford Cliffs debut at the Royal Ascot was glorious as he won the
Group 2 Coventry Stakes by a massive six lengths.
As we approach the imperious clash, words are flying from both ends and in one statement Richard Hannon said that he feels confident taking on Frankel at Goodwin.
The big question is how these two horses go up till the big race, but if they start it will shape-up to be the biggest race of the European season without a shadow of a doubt.
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