The Category One tournament begins tonight with the feeling that it is certainly not the best field ever assembled for this prestigious tournament at Hove. Last year, the Lolly Faithful were oh-so-close to having an antepost winner as Loughteen Blanco was collared on the line by the brilliantly game Westmead Maldini, and a similar approach should yield success in picking a winner this time round. The fact that Derby 2nd Airlie Impact was unplaced in that race a year ago shows the quality of the field that year and whilst Blanco returns this year, it is hard to suggest he is quite the same dog that had a fantastic 2012. The approach last year was to go against the conventional wisdom that a galloping track like Hove requires a powerful dog and instead, find value in an early-paced merchant who may steal a lead in the final and then not be for catching: Blanco nearly did it last year!

The nature of Hove means that the market is dominated by strong sorts such as Teejays Bluehawk, Droopys Ed Moses and Glenpadden Post but their value is questionable due to the potential of not getting a clear run meaning their value at under 10/1 is questionable. All 3 of these have the potential to be interesting over 6 bends come the St. Leger but for now, they are attempting to run through fields to progress in tournaments over 4 bends. Bluehawk is an admirable sort who will need no second invitation if given racing room, but as a railer he could be forced to run through several dogs and whilst his trackcraft is decent, it does not strike me as exceptional and he capitalises on gaps rather than finding them for me. Droopys Ed Moses is a mercurial dog who is often left way behind in the race before producing a blistering turn of foot from the 3rd bend; he can win a race from anywhere but his appeal is limited due to his tendency to be completely left behind for most of the race and so the winner may have got away. Glenpadden Post was a serious consideration antepost as his Derby Plate win was hugely impressive for his style and decision making when going on the outside round the 4th bend when given the opportunity. Yet, Barrie Draper’s dogs have been hit-and-miss during the Derby and subsequently (Farloe Barracuda was hugely disappointing last night) and the long journey down to Hove is not ideal for any dog, no matter how well-behaved we are we get hot in the van in this heat! Therefore, he is a realistic contender but the market has him placed rightly around the 8/1 mark.

So with the strong dogs being taken on, we need an early-paced dog who is going to set the others a benchmark to aim at. Due to the popularity of strong-running dogs going for this tournament, the early-pace is normally scarce in races which is another reason for picking a fast-away dog as they will more than likely have good draws throughout. Exocet has a lofty reputation and is capable of leading on his day but he makes extremely limited appeal at his odds due to the fact it looks to me that he has not quite settled into the English way of life as of yet. Bridge Honcho is a lightly-raced, top quality dog who can beat anything on his day round here but his fragility is a concern and whilst if he stays fit he could walk this tournament, at 8/1 he offers no value due to his injury-plagued career.

That leaves us with a dog who has been in sparkling form round the Course and Distance over the past few weeks and could turn into a superb performer for Chris Allsopps’ team: Express Master is the pick. He had the kennels barking when he flew round Monmore in trials of 28:22 and 28:19 showing his undoubted pace which was then followed up by two scintilatting wins at Hove. He beat the aforementioned Droopys Ed Moses comfortably on his second win which shows he is going to set a serious target for the others to aim at in this competition and his short-head defeat by Bridge Honcho is by no means a disgrace as I stated earlier: Bridge Honcho is a class act. Master is a railer but he has proven he can come out of anything as wide as 4 (which he runs from tonight) and he has enough early to lead virtually any of the railers in this tournament, so issues at the first bend should not be of huge concern. Of course, his consistency is questionable with only 3 career starts in England but his two trials at Monmore show that he will consistently run a similar sort of race and if he can reproduce 3 29:60 times around Hove, he will take all of the beating in this tournament. Allsopp speaks very highly of his new worker and his lack of experience is more than factored into his price of 8/1 considering his consistent early pace.

So one recommendation for the Lolly Faithful then:

Express Master – 1 piece of bread broken in half @ 8/1

So there are my thoughts on the Sussex Cup. As ever please tweet or comment if you have anything to say about my opinions and I promise I will bark back at you despite my consistent panting in this heat: I thought I lived in England! Express Master can go one better for us this year and lead his colleagues over the winning line, despite the efforts of the stronger dogs trying to claw him back.

Enjoy the racing,

Jimmy