Too Darn Hot leaves Sussex rivals in the shade Too Darn Hot continued his resurgence with victory in the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. John Gosden’s Dubawi colt looked every inch a superstar in the making after rounding off an unbeaten juvenile season with victory in the Dewhurst last October, but the early part of his three-year-old campaign did not go to plan. An early-spring setback ruled him out of a 2000 Guineas trial and ultimately the Classic itself, and subsequent defeats in the Dante, the Irish Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes suggested he might not be the force he was as a youngster. However, having got his season up and running with victory in the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville three and and a half weeks ago, he was a well-backed even-money favourite to follow up in Goodwood’s £1million feature — and ultimately did so with something to spare. Irish Guineas hero Phoenix Of Spain cut out the early running, closely pursued by Aidan O’Brien’s St James’s Palace winner Circus Maximus, with Frankie Dettori happy to bide his time on the market leader. Phoenix Of Spain dropped away tamely passing the two-furlong marker and while Circus Maximus briefly kicked, Too Darn Hot quickly reeled him in and only had to be pushed out in the dying strides to prevail by half a length.
