Buick in no doubt Notable Speech and the Sussex Stakes was sport out of the top drawer

Molly Hunter
July 31, 2024 4:38 pm

‘This is Wimbledon, this is the Ryder Cup and the Champions League’.

William Buick was happy to heap praise on Notable Speech after likening his Qatar Sussex Stakes win to sporting excellence of the highest order.

Charlie Appleby’s Dubawi colt had an unconventional path to the 2000 Guineas, running three times on the all-weather at Kempton and arriving at Newmarket having never raced on turf before.

Still, he had done enough to earn the confidence of Buick and the rider went into the Classic regarding his mount as a far greater threat than his starting price of 16-1 would suggest.

His faith proved to be well placed when Notable Speech won by a length and a half from Rosallion, but when the two met again in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Ascot it was the latter horse who really shone.

The Guineas winner could only finish seventh and left both Buick and Appleby scratching their heads when no obvious explanation surfaced, meaning they simply had to regroup for the rematch when both horses were declared for the Sussex Stakes.

Notable Speech and William Buick after victory in the Sussex Stakes (Andrew Matthews/PA)

A respiratory infection ruled Rosallion out of the eagerly-anticipated clash and denied fans the head-to-head they had been anticipating, but Buick felt Notable Speech’s length-and-a-half triumph from Maljoom was a sporting feat in itself.

He said: “I rode in Kingman’s Sussex when he won (in 2014). There were only four runners, but I watched him from behind accelerate. I never like to compare horses, but you could visually see his acceleration. That was amazing to watch.

“I am on this horse’s back and I might be biased, but he has done something similar. It was instant. In that level of race, at the type of pace they are going at already, to have another gear or even two? It’s a rarity.

“Of course it takes your breath away. I’m privileged to be in the position I am in, but this is what we do it for – the big days.”

While the world is captivated by the Olympic feats happening in Paris, Buick feels it is horses like Notable Speech who provide racing with the same sporting drama on the racecourse.

“This, in my opinion, is how we will draw an outside crowd into racing,” he said.

“To watch excellence, to watch a real good race when top horses are battling it out. I’d buy into this all day long. I stuck my neck out after Newmarket about him and after Ascot we had to regroup. But here we are again.

“You are watching excellent sport – this is Wimbledon, this is the Ryder Cup and the Champions League. This is the highest echelon of our sport.”