Sussex Stakes

[NoChanceToDance]

by Tony O'Hehir
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EXCELLENT ART, who led home a 1-2-3 for Aidan O'Brien in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, is likely to spearhead the Ballydoyle challenge for the BGC Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on August 1, for which he is 4-1 third favourite with Coral.

However stablemate George Washington, whom Coral have installed as 3-1 favourite, is unlikely to run.

Winner of the Mill Reef Stakes when trained by Neville Callaghan last year, Excellent Art made his debut for O'Brien in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains in which he encountered traffic problems before finishing well for fourth place behind stablemate Astronomer Royal.

At Royal Ascot, the son of Pivotal beat Duke Of Marmalade and Astronomer Royal, both of whom are among O'Brien's six entries for the Group 1 Sussex.

O'Brien said: "We won't be finalising plans for a while yet, but the situation is that we are looking at sending Excellent Art to Goodwood."

According to O'Brien, there are no firm plans for George Washington although it appears unlikely that the Coral-Eclipse Stakes third will be on his trainer's team for Goodwood. O'Brien's other entries for the Sussex are Archipenko and Trinity College. The trainer has won the race twice, with Giant's Causeway in 2000 and Rock Of Gibraltar in 2002.

UAE Derby winner Asiatic Boy is a 9-2 chance with Coral and had a spin at Goodwood yesterday morning to gain experience of the undulating track.

Sussex Stakes
Coral: 3 George Washington, 7-2 Ramonti, 4 Excellent Art, 9-2 Asiatic Boy, 7 Jeremy, 9 Duke Of Marmalade, 14 Arch Swing, Echo Of Light, 16 Astronomer Royal, Creachadoir