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Plus: Nick Turnbull answers 5 quick-fire bloodstock questions

The Qatar Sussex Stakes is one of the jewels in the crown of the British Flat season. Consistently attracting a high-class field, Goodwood’s Group 1 mile is a test for any thoroughbred and the race has a history of not only producing champions but also horses who go on to become successful stallions, recent victors include Too Darn Hot, Kingman and Frankel. 

Since 2020, Shadwell’s blue and white silks have twice been carried to victory in the Sussex Stakes and the horses in question now stand alongside each other at Beech House Stud, Newmarket. Ahead of this year’s renewal, Shadwell’s retained rider, Jim Crowley, recalls what it was like to ride both Baaeed and Mohaather to victory on the Sussex Downs. 

Baaeed was ‘the horse who had everything’

Baaeed remains the highest-rated racehorse in Europe for over a decade and his first crop of foals are soon to feature at this season’s prestige yearling sales. Jim Crowley, who partnered the horse for all six of his stellar Group 1 wins, looks back at the 2022 running of the Sussex Stakes.

“I actually wanted William (Haggas) to supplement Baaeed for the Sussex the year before (2021). After I had won the Sir Henry Cecil Stakes at Newmarket on him, I said to William: ‘he’s the best you’ve got, and he’ll be the best you’ll ever have’. And I think he would have won the Sussex that year, but instead he went for the Group 3 at Goodwood and won very impressively, and that was the last time he ran in a non-Group 1 race. 

“By the time the Sussex came around in 2022, he was a four-time Group 1 winner and he started 1/6 favourite. But I did not feel any pressure riding him, I was always excited and looking forward to it. I loved riding him. 

“He had everything, an electric turn of foot, an unbelievable temperament – he was almost horizontal he was so laid back – and he was beautifully balanced. And he could quicken twice in a race, which as any jockey will tell you, is very rare.

Above: BAAEED sweeps past the field to claim his fifth Group 1 victory over a mile.

“I loved riding him like the good horse he was and being patient on him. In winning the Sussex, he was again impressive, but at the same time I could feel that over a mile it was perhaps becoming routine for him. The crowd gave out this huge cheer when he hit the front and at that his ears flicked and he almost shut down on me, he knew he had done enough to win.

“And then, next start, up in trip, he went to York and he was just immense.”

Mohaather ‘produced a turn of foot I had never felt before’

Two years earlier, during Covid, there was no crowd to let out a roar but it was a thrilling and memorable affair nonetheless.

Trained by Marcus Tregoning, Mohaather possessed a rare turn of foot, but an interrupted three-year-old campaign had deprived the horse of opportunities to show his true worth.

Crowley remembers the 2020 running of the race very fondly: “Mohaather had been unlucky in the Queen Anne at Ascot as they came up the stands rail, which they hardly ever do, and he got no run and finished on the bridle. After that he won the Summer Mile and I remember going to Goodwood thinking he would definitely win. I was really confident.

“One thing I distinctly recall was the surreal, eerie feeling on track beforehand. It was Covid and so there was not a soul on the course and it felt like a gunfight was about to happen and everyone had cleared out of town. It was a really competitive renewal with two Guineas winners (Kameko and Siskin) and a three-time Group 1 winner in Circus Maximus, and Mohaather.

“We jumped better than I would have liked and straight away I didn’t want to be in the position I found myself in, which was handy and in a pocket with horses either side of me. Nothing was going right and then, then he did something extraordinary…

“To get out of the pocket, I ended up having to pull him back and around the whole field, just at the point at which the race was really developing. But once he had clear sailing ahead, he produced a turn of foot like I had never felt before.

Above: MOHAATHER demonstrates a remarkable turn of foot to defeat three Group 1 winning milers.

“He picked them all up, and they were serious horses, with the speed of a sprinter and by the line I was easing up. Guy Harwood used to say ‘a truly top-class miler has the speed to win over six furlongs’ and I had never experienced acceleration like I did on Mohaather.”

With his first crop now running as three-year-olds and three Stakes winners already to his name, Mohaather has established himself as a promising young stallion.

It will be fascinating to see who follows in the hoofprints of Baaeed and Mohaather in winning this year’s running of the Qatar Sussex Stakes on Wednesday.

Thoroughbred Thoughts - 5 quick questions for Nick Turnbull 

Nick Turnbull from Elwick Stud answers five quick bloodstock questions. Elwick Stud was established at Sheraton Farm by Nick’s late father Geoff Turnbull MBE in 1998 and is set in over 200 acres of County Durham countryside. Geoff, followed by Nick, have since invested in top-quality breeding stock and the stud is home to a boutique band of blue-chip mares. They have also had significant success on the track, with their dark blue and pink silks being carried to victory by top-level winners Mondialiste and Lord Glitters, as well as the Listed-winning and Group 2 placed filly Lava Stream.

1. Proudest moment as a breeder? 

The homebred Lava Stream winning the Listed Agnes Keyser Fillies' Stakes at Goodwood. She went on to finish second in the (Gr.2) Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot.

2. Which Shadwell stallions have you supported in 2025? 

Baaeed, Mohaather and Minzaal. We have a lovely filly by Baaeed out of Stream Song (half-sister to Lava Stream) going to Book 1. Stream Song is back in foal to Baaeed this year.

3. One piece of bloodstock advice for your younger self? 

Buy the best mares you can afford and use the best stallions you can.

4. One thing you would like to see changed in the thoroughbred industry? 

More prize money

5. A horse to follow in 2025? 

Brielle