Goliath to stand tall in G1 Preis von Europa

Goliath will garner the most attention at the Weidenpesch racecourse in Cologne on Sept 27 – not only because of his imposing build.

The well-named six-year-old gelding stands head and shoulders above the rest in the 155,000 euro (S$226,000) Group 1 Preis von Europa (2,400m).

While Goliath is trained in France at Chantilly by Francis-Henri Graffard, he feels equally at home in Germany, especially in Cologne.

He was bred by Germany’s oldest thoroughbred stud farm, Gestut Schlenderhan in Bergheim, a small town near Cologne, and is by the stud’s former stallion Adlerflug.

Goliath also has giants of the game behind his ownership. Big-spending American owner John Stewart, through his rising racing empire Resolute Bloodstock, owns 75 per cent with the remaining shares belonging to the scion of the dynasty running Gestut Schlenderhan, Philip Baron von Ullmann.

However, Goliath was not just born with a silver spoon, but does also boast serious credentials on the track, and all over Europe.

In 2024, he won the Group 1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (2,400m) at Ascot, and the following year, he claimed the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden (2,400m).

This season, he has already won the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly (2,400m), ridden by Christophe Soumillon who was also aboard at his Ascot success. The Belgian ace will be back aboard on Sunday.

The Preis von Europa is one of seven Group I races in Germany, featuring many top-notch international winners among its alumni.

Alpinista won in 2021 before going on to win the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2,400m) the following year.

Godolphin’s recently retired English favourite Rebel’s Romance won it twice, in 2022 and 2024.

Incidentally, Graffard has a big chance of adding his name to the honour roll for the second year in a row after he saddled last year’s winner Sibayan with Mickael Barzalona up.

But for that to happen, Goliath will have to overcome six challengers who were not entered for fun.

The only other foreign entry, Dubai Honour from UK, is likely to be his toughest rival.

Trained by William Haggas in Newmarket, England, the Pride Of Dubai eight-year-old globetrotter has won three Group 1 races in Australia – namely the Ranvet Stakes (2,000m) at Rosehill and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2,000m) at Randwick in 2023, followed by the Tancred Stakes (2,400m) at Rosehill two years later.

Dubai Honour has also won three Group races in France, including the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (2,400m) in 2024, and has performed creditably at his frequent raids to Hong Kong and Dubai.

But perhaps more notably, he was runner-up to Goliath in the Grosser Preis von Baden, and will now bid to turn the tables on his cross-Channel adversary.

Among the domestic squad, Straight should not be disregarded even if he is coming off a one-year spell.

The six-year-old entire by Zarak is absolutely top class on his day. Henk Grewe’s ward underlined that potential in the 2024 renewal of the Preis von Europa, finishing second to Rebel’s Romance.

Last year’s German Derby winner Hochkonig has been a bit of a shadow of himself this year.

The Cloverleaf-owned and Yasmin Almenrader-trained four-year-old could only beat one home in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin (2,400m) at Hoppegarten at his last start on Aug 9.

The domestic team may then turn their hopes to youth, represented by the Andreas Suborics (former top jockey who rode Silvano to victory in the Singapore Cup in 2001) duo of Seguro and Noble Lips, and Alter Meister for Waldemar Hickst, who saddled Zazou to fourth in the 2012 Group 1 Singapore Airlines International Cup (2,000m).

Owned by the Simply Red stable, Seguro has improved by leaps and bounds. The Romanised colt has won two Group 3 races in Baden-Baden and Hamburg and ran fourth to Hotazhell in the Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis (2,000m) in Munich in his last start.

Third in the Group 1 Preis der Diana (2,200m) in Dusseldorf on Aug 2, Noble Lips could not frank that form in the Group 2 T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis (2,400m) in Baden-Baden on Sept 5.

As such, the Gleneagles filly is likely to start at even longer odds.

As for Alter Meister, the colt by former top Coolmore racehorse and now German-based sire Japan will need to step up on his game to make his presence felt.

After a winning debut at Lyon-Parilly in France on April 13, he took fourth in a Listed race over 2,400m at ParisLongchamp one month later.

When brought back home, he could only manage a third in the Listed Derby Trial (2,000m) in Dortmund on June 21.