Here Comes When Strikes in Sussex Upset

When the rains came and Churchill was scratched from the Aug. 2 Qatar Sussex Stakes (G1) at Goodwood, the race looked to be there for the taking for Ribchester. It almost worked out that way.

After leading for much of the mile over soft turf, Ribchester gave in to longshot Here Comes When in the final 100 meters and appeared well done. Here Comes When ran on strongly but Ribchester's rider, William Buick, found both a seam between horses and another gear with Ribchester, who narrowly missed coming back for the victory.

At the end, it was Here Comes When by a neck over Ribchester. Lightning Spear finished third.

The race would have been a contest of generations with Churchill, a 3-year-old Galileo colt, facing Ribchester, a 4-year-old son of Iffraaj. Churchill won seven straight races before a fourth-place finish in the St. James's Palace Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot. Ribchester won his two previous starts, both group 1 events.

Here Comes When represented a different generation entirely and had a more modest resume. The 7-year-old Danehill Dancer gelding had not won a pattern race since October of 2014 and was sent to the post at odds of 20-1 en route to becoming the oldest horse to ever win the Sussex.

"He won two group 2s as a 4-year-old and has always been a handy horse, but he needs these conditions," said Andrew Balding, trainer of Here Comes When. "We were lucky the race fell away a little bit, but you still have to run to a very good level to win it, which he did. It's one of my more improbable group 1 triumphs, but he was 20-1, so not completely without a chance.

"He was always travelling strongly through the race and that gave him a chance of being placed, but I thought Lightning Spear would beat us and then Ribchester. Happily they didn't."

Here Comes When was ridden to victory by Jim Crowley, who also won the Coral-Eclipse Stakes (G1) at the beginning of July on the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Ulysses.

"He's a very good horse with his conditions—which are these!" Crowley laughed. "But he's deserved it, he's battled hardened, he's run plenty of times."

Trainer Richard Fahey commented that Ribchester was most definitely impacted by the heavy ground.

"It is extreme conditions out there. I was very worried, it is not for a flat racehorse," Fahey said. "He has showed good heart and has run a mighty race to get back up again."

Another who chose not to tackle the soft turf on the second day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival—formerly Glorious Goodwood—was Wesley Ward trainee Happy Like a Fool. The Distorted Humor   filly finished second in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot on firm going but was scratched from the Bombay Sapphire Molecomb Stakes (G3) due to the rain-soaked conditions.