John Stewart is hoping Goliath can kickstart an ambitious international campaign with victory in the HK$28 million Group 1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The mastermind behind the burgeoning racing empire Resolute Racing moved to purchase the French-trained star after his +2500 success in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2400m) at Ascot last July.
Stewart made the acquisition with the intention to showcase Goliath’s talents on the global stage and swiftly made inroads on those ambitions with victory in the Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris (2200m) in October and sixth in the Group 1 Japan Cup (2400m) the following month.
The horse who shares his name with a Philistine giant is now hoping to live up to his billing as the poster boy of Hong Kong’s premier contest, with the recent G1 Tancred Stakes (2400m) winner Dubai Honour a non-runner and three-time reigning champion Romantic Warrior now in Dubai.
“He’s already at Sha Tin and seems in great shape,” Stewart said.
“At this stage in his career he’s the ideal horse to travel the world and we’ve had this race in mind for him for a long time.
“As I’m building my stable, competing internationally is at the top of my agenda. The Hong Kong fans are so passionate and it’s good for them to get the chance to see him. I tell my trainers I’m not interested in prize money – I just want to run in the best races.”
While the opposition to Goliath has been hit, he will still face five Group 1 winners from across the globe, but Stewart and trainer Francis-Henri Graffard can take confidence from his regular rider Christophe Soumillon’s ample experience of Sha Tin.
Stewart said: “It’s a shame some of the bigger names won’t be turning up, but it will still be a competitive race as you always have to take the Japanese horses seriously and the local horses deserve respect.
“Christophe is a world-class rider and he and Francis will sit down and talk about how they want the race to go during the week. We think he could have been ridden more positively in the Japan Cup.”
Stewart is drafting another adventurous year for the five-year-old, with a trip to Royal Ascot and avenging last year’s Japan Cup defeat high on the agenda.
“I’d love to go for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Group 1, 2000m) and then on to the King George,” he said. “I’d also like to run him in the States at Saratoga and in Australia, as well as going back to Japan.”
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