Giavellotto Serves Notice On The Sheema Classic
Hardwicke Stakes Becomes A Sheema Classic Trial In Practice
Shadwell’s absence from the Hardwicke Stakes this year made the race an open contest between European and Dubai-campaigned stayers — and it was the globetrotting Giavellotto who ensured the 12-furlong division’s Sheema Classic pipeline remained intact on Saturday afternoon. The Marco Botti-trained seven-year-old’s victory, narrow as the margin was, confirmed what two strong runs in the region had already suggested: this horse belongs at the highest level, and the Dubai World Cup meeting’s Gr.1 Dubai Sheema Classic remains his natural ceiling.
The race unfolded exactly as Andrew Balding’s Kalpana had scripted it for those who watched the forecast. The Juddmonte filly took up the running at the two-furlong marker, pressing the pace and inviting those behind to come and catch her. Oisin Murphy, tracking her throughout on Giavellotto, shadowed every move and made his challenge in the final furlong. It was a test of resolution rather than pace, and the Italian-bred stayer found more than anything else in the race.
The French raider Goliath arrived on the outside with what looked, at the furlong pole, like a winning run. The misfortune of Christophe Soumillon losing an iron in the closing stages ended that possibility prematurely, leaving the race a straight duel between Giavellotto and Kalpana. A short-head at the line told the full story of a race decided by nerve, not distance. Goliath, undoubtedly compromised, finished third, and the form book carries a substantial asterisk against his rating.
Confirms: A Sheema Classic Contender At Seven
The Hardwicke Stakes confirmed what Giavellotto’s winter campaign had raised as a possibility rather than a certainty: the horse has the class, the constitution, and the temperament to compete at Group One level on multiple surfaces and in multiple continents. His third in the Dubai Sheema Classic at the 2026 Dubai World Cup meeting, on ground faster than he prefers and in a race won by the division’s best, was not a defeat that diminished him. Saturday’s performance, in a race that Balding himself described as “a Group Two in name only,” elevated him.
What the result changes in the 12-furlong landscape is the complexion of the Sheema Classic conversation heading into autumn. Kalpana, a high-class filly who may prefer softer ground, remains a leading candidate for that race but this was not her ideal preparation. Goliath arrives at his next engagement with an excuse, and the door opens for Botti’s horse to lead the European stayer’s case heading into winter.
The complication, as always with horses of this profile, lies in the Hong Kong Vase. Botti noted after the race that the plan centres on a return to Hong Kong, where Giavellotto won the Vase in 2024. That intention, if it holds, would route the horse through December rather than the February preparatory races that typically precede the Sheema Classic. The regional racing calendar offers both possibilities.
Sheema Classic Credentials Built, Not Promised
For the operations that drive the Dubai carnival, Giavellotto’s Hardwicke win maps cleanly onto the feeder route that the race has long served: 12-furlong older horses who perform at Royal Ascot in June establish the form rating and the profile that makes them credible Sheema Classic entries in March. The Emirates Racing Authority’s handicapper will now assign a mark commensurate with a Royal Ascot Group Two winner, placing the horse within striking distance of Sheema Classic qualification.
The comparable position in 2022 was Hukum, trained by Owen Burrows for Shadwell Estate Company Ltd, who finished second in the Hardwicke Stakes before returning to win it the following year and subsequently representing the stable in Dubai. Giavellotto’s trajectory carries a similar shape: consistent performer in the region, Royal Ascot credibility now secured, with the option of a Hong Kong arc before a Dubai carnival return. Whether ownership and connections choose to enter him in the Sheema Classic will depend partly on Botti’s Hong Kong preference, but the form is now on record.
For Wathnan Racing, Godolphin, and Shadwell, who each carry stayers in their programmes, Saturday’s race established an external benchmark. Any UAE-based stayer aspiring to the Sheema Classic in 2027 now knows the standard: win or place above Giavellotto on the European circuit, or meet him again in March.
Botti And Murphy On A Horse Built For Travel
Marco Botti, whose operation has grown to handle genuinely international horses with year-round programmes, was direct about the horse’s worth after the race. “He has taken us around the world, and then to win at Royal Ascot — you cannot ask any more than that. He is an unbelievable horse,” the trainer said. “I do not think we will be back for the King George because later in the season we want to go back to Hong Kong. He likes travelling, and that will be the priority.”
Oisin Murphy, completing a week in which he found winners difficult to come by, was unambiguous in his assessment. “I could not believe Giavellotto was so big in the betting. He is brilliant fresh, he is a Group One winner in Hong Kong already, and it is great that he has won the Hardwicke,” Murphy said. The champion jockey had pre-planned the race around Kalpana’s expected move: “He is a very honest horse and loves fast ground. That is his set-up — a mile and a half, fast ground and plenty of argy-bargy.”
Balding’s grace in defeat was notable. “The winner is a very good horse, while we are probably slightly better on soft ground, whereas he is very good on this ground. But I am very proud of the way she ran,” the trainer said of Kalpana. The form sets up a potential rematch on softer autumn ground that could further clarify both horses’ standing before Dubai entries open.
A Hardwicke Stakes winner with a Group One already in his record, heading to Hong Kong via the same route that brought him to Dubai twice already: the Sheema Classic door has not closed, it has opened further.