IT WAS A TRUE DUEL ON THE DOWNS @Goodwood_Races

Hype is usually difficult to live up to but the QIPCO Sussex Stakes "Duel On The Downs" did, according to all observers, match its billing, with praise heaped in equal measure on both parts of the victorious centaur partnership, Toronado and Richard Hughes, and also on gallant runner-up Dawn Approach.

There is no suggestion that Richard Hannon-trained Toronado is the equal in quality of  Frankel, winner of the Group One Mile contest for the previous two years. But as a spectacle, a clean fight between Europe's two best three-year-old milers, according to the Racing Post's Alastair Down, "a genuine feast" and a race that "fizzed with class" as Toronado took his revenge for a narrow defeat at Royal Ascot, the pair clear of Queen Anne Stakes winner Declaration Of War.

"Forget high, wide and handsome," he wrote, "that virtuoso of the hold-up horse, Richard Hughes, delivered Toronado late, wide and deadly." He, and race reporter Nick Godfrey, also pointed out high in their pieces that the winning time was faster than both Frankel's efforts, on considerably softer ground. "Phenomenal" said Godfrey.

The theme of the excellence of the encounter as a spectacle was echoed in all the national dailies. It was "that rarity on the Turf, an unqualified success. No quarter given, no excuses needed", wrote Chris McGrath in The Independent. Of Hughes, he said "he was in his element, restraining a top-class horse behind a molten pace before pouncing with timely panache."

"Promoting a race as a duel is a risky strategy," said Alan Lee in The Times, "If either horse disappoints or a third gatecrashes, the whole thing falls flat. Reality is seldom as stirring as at Goodwood yesterday."

In The Daily Telegraph, Marcus Armytage described Toronado and Dawn Approach as "well-matched three-year-olds, as tactically different as chalk and cheese." He, too, lauded Hughes, pointing out he reprised his Toronado display on two-year-old Toormore in the following race. "By that stage he must have believed he could give Concorde a 10-length start."

Armytage's colleague Jonathan Liew also touched on the protagonist's different qualities, Toronado with "hindquarters that generate heart-stopping explosions of speed" and Dawn Approach "all heart, daring his adversaries to match his pace and courage." And he pointed out that "where Frankel delivered thrashings, these two deliver thrillers."

In the Daily Mail, Marcus Townend described Toronado as "the jewel in the Duel on the Downs" and Hughes as "a master of his art around Goodwood". In the Mirror, Hughes unleashed a "last-minute cut and thrust"; in the Sun, Claude Duval referred to Hughes' "tactical magic"; in the Star it was "Toronado tornado" and in the Express "Force 10 Toronado."

As regards Toronado's place on the pantheon, he has been awarded a Timeform rating of 133 after exacting his revenge on his old rival, putting him on a par with the Richard Hannon stable's star miler Canford Cliffs, winner of the Sussex Stakes in 2010 before being well beaten by Frankel in 2011. Timeform have Dawn Approach on a mark of 132, an assessment anticipated by Chris Cook, who surmised in The Guardian: "It is now hard to see why the winner should not be regarded as the better animal."

Timeform Flat editor David Johnson commented: "There have been some fantastic clashes at Goodwood over the years and this one has to be right up there. We saw two top-class three-year-olds pull clear of a very reliable Group One winner in a very good time."