The 2024 flat campaign has witnessed its fair share of shock results – Notable Speech claiming the 2,000 Guineas at 16/1, Elmalka grabbing the 1,000 Guineas at 28/1, and 22/1 chance Audience leading the field a merry dance in the Lockinge Stakes, to name just three.
Saturday saw a new name added to this list of surprises, as a relatively unheralded performer traversed The Channel to win the prestigious King George VI Stakes at Ascot in hugely impressive style. Going by the name of Goliath, most viewed the Francis Graffard-trained four-year-old as the David in a field of racing giants. How wrong they turned out to be.
A Star-Studded Cast
In the lead-up to the 2024 edition of this 1m4f showpiece, a trio of proven Group 1 performers, understandably, attracted most of the attention.
Here comes the cavalry
Hans Anderson
Auguste Rodin
LuxembourgAscot pic.twitter.com/KyxAtkmNkW
— Taylr 🐎 (@tayz2017) July 27, 2024
Aidan O’Brien’s enigmatic Auguste Rodin may have finished stone cold last in the 2023 renewal but was out on his own at the head of the market, having since added the Irish Champion Stakes, the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes to his increasingly glittering CV. With Hans Anderson and Luxembourg tasked with ensuring a strong gallop, everything was set up for the son of Deep Impact to put his best hoof forward.
If Auguste Rodin woke up on the wrong side of the bed, the horse most likely to take advantage was the globetrotting superstar Rebel’s Romance, who went for the boys in blue of Godolphin. Successful five times at the highest level and previously unbeaten in five starts in the UK, he arrived on the back of an impressive Group 1 win at Sha Tin and looked a big threat to all.
Third on the list came Ralph Beckett’s admirable filly, Bluestocking, who appeared to have taken her form to another level in 2024. Too good for the talented Emily Upjohn in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, she received weight from the older colts in the field and looked primed to go well.
Giant Steps Required for French Raider?
Between them, the above trio boasted 12 Group 1 victories – precisely twelve more than those on Goliath’s CV. In fairness to the gelding, this was his first crack at the top table but a record of one win from four outings at Group 2 or Group 3 – including a three and three-quarter length second in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes on his most recent outing – suggested he would need to step up significantly on all that had come before.
Soumillion Tears Up the Script
Bearing all of the above in mind, it perhaps wasn’t impossible to imagine Goliath running into a place, but in the end, he fared much better than that.
As expected, 150/1 shot Hans Anderson soon made his way to the lead and set a fierce gallop, backed up by stablemate Luxembourg on the inside, with the well-positioned Auguste Rodin and Rebel’s Romance tracking them through. All appeared to be going to plan for the leading lights from the Ballydoyle and Godolphin operations.
Turning for home, it soon became clear that Auguste Rodin wasn’t on a going day, but Rebel’s Romance kicked into the lead. However, there, cantering along as though he had just joined in was Goliath. At that stage, there appeared to be only one winner, and so it proved, as the son of Aflerflug sauntered clear to win by two and a quarter lengths in the manner of an odds-on shot. Bluestocking ran on well for second, with Rebel’s Romance in third.
Graffard Trending Upwards at Ascot
This represented the first French King George success since the 2006 victory of Hurricane Run – ridden by none other than Christophe Soumillon. For Francis Graffard, this astonishing win was the second victory at Ascot in the space of a month – coming hot on the heels of Calandagan’s equally impressive romp in the King Edward VII Stakes at the Royal Meeting.
What Next for Goliath?
Ordinarily, any horse who won this race in such emphatic style would rocket in the market for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for the gelding Goliath, who is ineligible for an event restricted to colts, fillies, and mares. Lacking that obvious target, plotting his course through the season isn’t straightforward, but the Grosser Preis von Baden-Baden and a drop back in trip for the Champion Stakes were touted as possible options by owner Baron Philip von Ullman in the aftermath of the race.