Aidan O’Brien is relishing a third clash between Gstaad and Bow Echo in Wednesday’s £1.5 million Group 1 Sussex Stakes, with Royal Ascot controversy horse Puerto Rico also set to return at Goodwood.
Bow Echo has beaten Gstaad in both of their meetings, winning the English 2,000 Guineas by two and three-quarter lengths before holding him by a short head in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Gstaad won the Irish 2,000 Guineas between those defeats and has finished first or second in all nine starts.
“It is always possible (we can reverse the form). He obviously just failed at Ascot. He is progressive, and it didn’t really work perfectly for him on the day – he still ran a great race,” O’Brien told Goodwood Racecourse.
“We’re looking forward to the race again. Hopefully Bow Echo runs, and it will be a good race.
“Things didn’t go perfectly for us at Ascot, and maybe they didn’t for Bow Echo either.
“In the Guineas, we felt we were forced on. We were very forward and had to do our own donkey work, while Bow Echo had lovely cover and everything worked well for him.
“Then we went to Ascot and felt that maybe it didn’t go 100 per cent for us either. Maybe the lads thought it didn’t go perfectly for Bow Echo, either.
“It’s going to be interesting. That’s what I think makes these races great. We’re looking forward to seeing what happens.”
Puerto Rico, a dual Group 1 winner as a juvenile, is expected to join Gstaad in the Sussex Stakes after finishing sixth in the St James’s Palace.
His Ascot run became one of the meeting’s main talking points after Christophe Soumillon was initially suspended for eight days, with stewards finding that he had ridden Puerto Rico in a manner that benefited Gstaad. An appeal panel upheld that finding but did not conclude it was intentional, reducing the suspension to five days.
O’Brien believes the race unravelled for Puerto Rico after his planned attempt to make the running was disrupted.
“Obviously, Ascot was a complete mess for him. He went forward, and I think he got taken on for the lead. It just all went out the window.
“We had planned on making the running with him. He won his two Group 1s making the running - it just didn’t work for him on the day.
“There was a snowball effect throughout the whole race when that happened, but that’s racing, and it doesn’t go right all the time.”
O’Brien expects a different version of Puerto Rico at Goodwood.
“We’re very happy with his progress since, and we feel that we will see a different horse this time.”
The Sussex Stakes will be the first time Bow Echo and Gstaad face older horses. It is also now Europe’s most valuable mile race after its purse was increased to £1.5 million.
