Great Voltigeur: Maltese Cross reverses Derby form to stake a St Leger claim
Haggas colt turns the tables on Christmas Day and keeps both St Leger and Arc on the table.
The Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes is the season’s most reliable St Leger signpost, and this year’s running produced a clear new name for the Classic. Maltese Cross, sent off at 9/4 for William Haggas and Tom Marquand, took the Group 2 by two lengths and answered the obvious question in the process. The colt who just became a genuine St Leger player is him.
How the race unfolded
Maltese Cross carried a 5lb penalty for his Grand Prix de Paris win and still had too much. Aidan O’Brien’s Antigua set the tempo, and once that pace dropped away it was Christmas Day who kicked first. The lead did not last. Maltese Cross quickly drew upsides, then found more when it mattered to repel the challenge of Pierre Bonnard and assert near the line.
For the Derby winner Christmas Day, also penalised 5lb, it was a case of form turned on its head. He kept on into third, but was beaten two and a quarter lengths behind the runner-up and never looked like reversing places with the horse he had beaten at Epsom.
What it means for the St Leger
The result rewrites the top of the market for Doncaster. Maltese Cross now heads the picture on the strength of a performance that combined a penalty, a Derby winner behind him and a strong will to win. Haggas, though, is in no hurry to commit, leaving both the St Leger and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe open as options.
Either way, the Great Voltigeur has done its traditional job. It has thinned out the Classic contenders and pushed one colt to the front of the queue. On this evidence, Maltese Cross is the one the rest now have to beat.
