It took a behemoth of a horse to defeat a pair of Breeders’ Cup champions, and Goliath was up to the task as he knocked off Rebel’s Romance and Auguste Rodin in the $1.125 million King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) at Ascot on Saturday.
Sent off as a 25-1 longshot in the field of nine, the 4-year-old gelding took charge in the stretch and cruised past tiring Auguste Rodin (2023 BC Turf winner) and Rebel’s Romance (2022 BC Turf winner) under a perfectly timed ride by Christophe Soumillon.
Trained by Frenchman Henri Graffard, the win at the famed racetrack outside London came the day after the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France – a gold-medal winning performance if you will.
“I love winning like this. I know my horse, with a good pace, could quicken like this. We came to Ascot to find a strong pace, and still at Royal Ascot he was too keen (second in the Hardwicke Stakes); so I was really hoping for some pace here.
"But to be fair when I saw the 25-1, I was like 'Oh my God, nobody believes in him.' He traveled so nicely, though, and when he was like that, I knew he'd be able to quicken strongly."
The race is part of the Breeders’ Cup challenge series, giving Goliath an all fees paid berth into the BC Turf at Del Mar in November.
“The spring was planned around this race, and I’m happy it worked,” Gaffard said. “Now we can sit down, have a nice drink and see where we go next.”
All three of trainer Aiden O’Brien’s horses got off to decent starts. Luxembourg (10-1) set the pace over the first mile, with stablemates Auguste Rodin (6-5) and Hans Anderson (70-1) in striking distance. Rebel’s Romance settled into third, with Goliath racing in mid-pack in the field of nine.
As the field came out of the final turn O’Brien’s longshots faded back, while Goliath was moved three wide, then four wide and took charge as Auguste Rodin dropped out of contention. Bluestocking (4-1), rallied from last to get second, with Rebel’s Romance third. Auguste Rodin finished fifth.
Time for the 1 ½-miles over a turf course listed as good to firm was 2:27.43.
“When I came out of the turn, I felt he was cruising,” Soumillon said. “It’s amazing to be able to enjoy and appreciate such a big win 150 yards from the line.”
Graffard, who has been training for 12 years, said it‘s time to enjoy the victory before figuring out what’s next for Goliath, who improved his record to 9-5-2-0 and boosted his earnings to $1,108,522.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
