Ghanaati will be bidding today at Glorious Goodwood to disprove the theory that the best colts almost always beat the best fillies. The Newmarket 1,000 Guineas and Royal Ascot Coronation Stakes-winner, owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, will fight to defend her three-race winning streak as she faces the sternest test of her three-year-old career.
The excellent miler, trained by Barry Hills, has not lost since her first victory in a maiden at Kempton as a two-year-old last year. She now faces not only males but older horses as well as she attempts to prove her all-around credentials in the mile-long BGC Sussex Stakes (6:25pm). One of those, who is not only male and older but also a proven winner, is Richard Hannon's Paco Boy, who triumphed in the Queen Anne Stakesover a mile at Royal Ascot last month.
With jockey Richard Hughes in the saddle, Paco Boy is stepping back up to his favoured mile after finishing fourth behind Fleeting Spirit in the six furlong Darley July Cup. Also lining up is the Coral Eclipse runner-up Rip van Winkle. The three-year-old, trained by the indomitable Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Johnny Murtagh, was just a length behind Sea the Stars in his first start against the older generation.
Mick Channon's Lahaleeb, the other three-year-old filly who has followed a similar route to Ghanaati to this race after finishing runner-up in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and fifth in the Coronation Stakes, will have to have step up from those runs to make an impact in this field. Ghanaati has already proved so much but her work is not yet done; a victory today for her jockey Richard Hills, would seal her place among racing's great fillies and claim a third Group One race of the season.
