England: Paddington wins Sussex, qualifies for Breeders’ Cup Mile

Odds-on favorite Paddington continued his faultless season for trainer Aidan O’Brien with another dominant display Wednesday at Goodwood, England, in the Group 1, $1,272,595 Sussex Stakes, a win-and-you’re-in qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Having started the season in a handicap, the 3-year-old Siyouni colt owned in part by American Peter Brant has established himself quickly as one of the most exciting horses in training. In running his 2023 record to 6-for-6, this triumph came on the back of Group 1 victories in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, St. James’s Palace and Eclipse stakes.

Dropping back to a mile, Ryan Moore decided to go to the lead quickly on Paddington (4-9). Inspiral’s rider Frankie Dettori challenged him early in the straight in an attempt to get position along the grandstand rail, but the multiple Group 1 winner could not keep up with the eventual victor and weakened soon after.

The main challenge ultimately came from U.S.-owned, France raider Facteur Cheval (11-1), but Paddington was relentless in front and scored decisively by 1 1/2 lengths. Charyn (40-1) was three lengths farther back in third.

“Paddington is a very special horse,” O’Brien said. “We were worried about the ground even though he had won on heavy ground, not in this class of race. Ryan rode him for speed and held on to him and held on to him, but he was over the moon with him.”

The winning time for the mile on soft turf soaked by rain was a pedestrian 1:47.16 with no run-up.

Asked to compare Paddington with Giant’s Causeway, who won the Sussex Stakes in 2000 as part of a similarly bold campaign that ended with a runner-up finish to Tiznow in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, O’Brien said, “Paddington is much quicker than the Giant was. He’s tactically quick, but he can quicken as well. The Giant was tactically quick and was dour after that. This horse can really turn it on when you have to on all types of ground. He is unique.

O’Brien did not commit Paddington to a specific race next, although he mentioned the 1 1/4-mile International (G1) on Aug. 23 at York, England, as a possibility.

“It will depend on what the lads want to do, and we’ll talk to them after a week, but he’s got a lot of options,” O’Brien said. “With every race, he is getting heavier, which is very unusual, and he is getting calm. He is really trying. He is (6-9 pounds) heavier today than he was the last day. And it is special that we have Peter and Stephanie (Seymour, Brant’s wife) today that we didn’t have before with him.”

Brant owns the colt with the Coolmore trio Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Susan Magnier as well as Westerberg’s Georg von Opel. In addition to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, the 1 1/2-mile Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) on Oct. 1 in Paris and the 1 1/4-mile Cox Plate (G1) on Oct. 28 in Melbourne have been mentioned as long-term targets for Paddington.

“Tom (Magnier, Coolmore’s stallion manager) mentioned something about Australia, but he could go anywhere or do anything,” O’Brien said. “He has had a busy season. You run in any one top-level race, and you know it, but he is doing them one after another. I thought he wanted good ground or better, because he’s quick, but he has handled the soft ground, and he has won on heavy before. But when a horse can quicken like that, you’d think he’d want good ground.”

Moore himself was on the verge of superlatives in talking about Paddington.

“It is a hard thing to say, but he gives you the feel that he might be as good a horse as I have ridden,” Moore said. “He is exceptional, and he has handled everything that we have put in front of him, whether it’s a mile, 10 (furlongs), good ground, soft. He is a straightforward horse who thrives on his racing. Someone asked me yesterday if he would go on this ground, and I said, ‘He would go on snow.’ ”

Making his first trip to Goodwood, Brant said Paddington ranked right up there for him, too.

“I must say this is among the greatest horses I’ve been proud enough to own,” Brant said. “We won the Kentucky Derby in 1984 with a horse called Swale, who was a great racehorse, but this horse has done a lot of special things that are hard to do. To win four Group 1s like this in such a short space of time and to look as grand as he does and to be gaining weight not losing weight is extraordinary.”

Trainer Jérôme Reynier said Facteur Cheval, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Barry Irwin and Gary Barber, could try another mile late this summer in Paris or Toronto.

“There are two options beforehand,” Reynier said. “The Moulin de Longchamp (G1, Sept. 3) or the Woodbine Mile (G1, Sept. 16) in Canada. Maybe we will wait until his is a 5-year-old for an international campaign.”