Field Of Gold reported lame as explanation emerges for favourite's Sussex Stakes flop

Field Of Gold was reported to be lame on Thursday as an explanation emerged for his costly flop in the Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes. The Royal Ascot and Irish Classic winner started 1-3 favourite to confirm his domination of the miling division in his first race against older horses.

However there was to be no coronation as the John & Thady Gosden-trained grey ran way below expectations in the supposed highlight of the Glorious Goodwood meeting. Field Of Gold found very little when William Buick asked him to begin his challenge and try to catch Qirat, the Juddmonte-owned horse put in the field to ensure a good pace for the hot favourite.

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Only Rosallion came close to catching the leader, failing by a neck. Henri Matisse took third with Field Of Gold, the 1-3 favourite, fourth, beaten three and a quarter lengths as Qirat stayed in front to pull off one of the longest priced victories in history in a Group 1 race.

Gosden suggested that Field Of Gold had not handled the undulating track immediately after the race.

In his post race debrief, he said: “He’s done nothing wrong. Actually the other pacemaker gets left, he comes round, they are finally going a pace and he’s sitting back a long way. That’s life and the pacemaker goes and wins it. If you let them have those fractions they go and do it.

“Field Of Gold ran on but he didn’t seem too well balanced on the track, It’s a different kind of track he’s ever run on. He just got a little unbalanced coming out of the dip into the bend but I’m not making any excuses. They ignored the pacemaker and paid the price.

“He ran a huge race in the 2,000 Guineas and was flying at the finish. He was not flying at the finish today so there is a very big difference.”

An apparent excuse emerged for Field Of Gold on Thursday with Gosden telling messaging broadcaster Nick Luck.

Luck, recording his Nick Luck Daily podcast, said: “John Gosden has told me Field Of Gold is lame on his near hind. It’s fairly obvious that the horse is lame.”

He said the colt would now be assessed by vets to establish the extent of the lameness.