Preludes hardly come much better than Wednesday’s Group Two Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes, where the first two from June’s Epsom Derby, Christmas Day and Maltese Cross, clash again.
What it says about the Derby’s slipping prestige that both colts line up in York’s traditional St Leger trial rather than the following Juddmonte International is a topic that could get even more interesting should neither of them manage to win.
Having come up short of his Ballydoyle rival at Epsom, Maltese Cross subsequently landed the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp where he overcame a less than clear passage in notably admirable fashion.
It means he and Christmas Day must each concede 5lbs to four rivals, two of them filling out Aidan O’Brien’s three-pronged challenge. Pierre Bonnard, a place behind Christmas Day when third in the Irish Derby, and Antigua give the Irishman a strong chance of a sixth Great Voltigeur.
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Shane Foley maintains his association with the Gosden runner Superior Choice, unbeaten in three starts this season, including a Listed contest in Hamilton last time. He is a progressive type that could upset the ratings.
Maltese Cross has almost three lengths to make up on Christmas Day from Epsom, where the latter looked notably suited to the heavy ground conditions. It will be a different surface this time and the English horse might prove more suited to it.
If he overcomes both his penalty, and the opposition, in some style it could even tee Maltese Cross up for a tilt at the Arc rather than the Leger. That would be bad news for Doncaster, although maybe a timely boost for Epsom.
O’Brien runs both Haffner and Confucius in the earlier Group Three Tattersalls Acomb Stakes, which has assumed a substantial role in identifying top juvenile talent in recent seasons.
Billy Lee also travels to the Knavesmire to team up with Paddy Twomey’s impressive Galway festival winner Trean. The colt was praised by his trainer as a potential high-class performer after making light of the Ballybrit hill. It will be a different challenge at York, where the Salisbury winner Gentle Hurricane represents last year’s winning trainer Andrew Balding.
