Billy Loughnane to ride Hardwicke hero Giavellotto at Baden-Baden on Sunday
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Fri 4 Sep 2026
Marco Botti is happy to have Billy Loughnane on his side as he prepares to takes the reins for the first time aboard Giavellotto in the WETTSTAR.de – 156th Grosser Preis von Baden in Germany.
Oisin Murphy has teamed up for five victories with Botti’s stable star, including the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot last time out, where they beat subsequent King George heroine Kalpana by a short head, but has commitments in France.
The seven-year-old has been freshened up with a 78-day break since that Ascot victory and Botti reports the son of Mastercraftsman to be in fine shape ahead of the Group One assignment.
Among Giavellotto’s seven rivals will be Roger Varian’s Saddadd, who was fourth in the Eclipse having been third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup before that, and the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Parachutiste.
Botti said: “He’s in good form. Everything has gone smoothly since his win at Royal Ascot and the only thing is we have had to change the jockey this time.
“He’s not going to have his usual jockey Oisin Murphy as he is committed to ride in France, but obviously Billy Loughnane is a very good jockey who is riding fantastic and we’re not complaining about that.
“It looks a nice field of eight runners and the ground should end up being good ground and that will suit us and of course it is a Group One so you would expect to take on some nice horses.
“Roger Varian’s horse, he is a quite nice horse and the French horse as well. We are happy with him and he’s been in great form.
“The plan was always to give him a little bit of space between races and he’s a seven-year-old now. We had a chance to just freshen him up and this is a race we had in mind for a long time.
“I am pleased the ground hasn’t gone extremely soft because that was the concern. That can happen at this time of the year in Germany, but it looks good weather for the weekend and he’s been great since Royal Ascot.”
Botti is keen to take it one race at a time with his stable star – but has mapped out a potential route.
He added: “We are giving the Breeders’ Cup some thought and Hong Kong in December is the race we said we always wanted to go back to. He’s been there twice and he won and was second last year so it makes sense, he likes the track and we’ll take our chance for a third time.”
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