# Great Voltigeur Stakes 2026 Result: Maltese Cross Reverses Derby Form

_Wed 19 Aug, York. Maltese Cross (9/4) beat Pierre Bonnard by 2L in the Great Voltigeur, Derby winner Christmas Day third. Full result and St Leger talk._

*Source: [https://stablebet.co.uk/racing-news/great-voltigeur-stakes-2026-result/](https://stablebet.co.uk/racing-news/great-voltigeur-stakes-2026-result/) · last updated 2026-08-20*

**Wednesday 19 August 2026, York Racecourse. Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes, Group 2, Class 1, 1m 3f 188y, 3yo colts & geldings only. Going: Good (Good to Soft in places). Six runners, off 15:00 BST. Winning time: 2m 32.04s.**

Maltese Cross reversed the Epsom Derby form to win the Great Voltigeur Stakes, beating the horse that beat him at Epsom into third. Sent off 9/4 for William Haggas, the colt travelled into the race behind the leaders, took command around two furlongs out and stayed on well under Tom Marquand to beat Aidan O'Brien's fast-finishing Pierre Bonnard by two lengths. Christmas Day, sent off 6/4 favourite as the reigning Derby winner, went for it under Ryan Moore and found nothing more, fading into third, beaten four and a quarter lengths.

It is the third leg of a big season for the French-bred, English-trained colt. Maltese Cross won the Lingfield Derby Trial by a neck in May, chased Christmas Day home into second at Epsom in June, then won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp in July. He carried the 5lb penalty that win earned him at York, shouldering top weight of 9-7 alongside Christmas Day, who carries an identical penalty for his own Derby win. "He showed a nice turn of foot in Paris last time, he did very well today and I think that was probably a career best," Haggas said afterwards.

**Result:**
- **1st Maltese Cross (FR) (9/4)**, William Haggas / Tom Marquand
- **2nd Pierre Bonnard (IRE) (10/3)**, A P O'Brien / Wayne Lordan, 2L
- **3rd Christmas Day (IRE) (6/4F)**, A P O'Brien / Ryan Moore, 2¼L (4¼L from the winner)
- 4th Superior Choice (15/2), John & Thady Gosden / Shane Foley, 3¼L (7½L)
- 5th Galiyan (20/1), Andrew Balding / Oisin Murphy, 13L (20½L)
- 6th Antigua (IRE) (150/1), A P O'Brien / Ronan Whelan, 38L (58½L)

**Tote:** Win £3.25, Place £1.25 / £2.05. Exacta £9.20, CSF £9.92, Trifecta £15.10.

**Prize money:** 1st £141,775, 2nd £53,750, 3rd £26,900, 4th £13,400, 5th £6,725, 6th £3,375.

No inquiry was reported.

The Voltigeur was run earlier on the same York card as the Juddmonte International. For that result, see our [Juddmonte International 2026 result](/racing-news/juddmonte-international-2026-result/). For the rest of the week, see the [Ebor Festival 2026 results hub](/racing-news/ebor-festival-2026-results/).

## Full result

| Pos | Horse | SP | Age/Weight | OR | Trainer | Jockey | Margin |
|----:|-------|---:|------------|---:|---------|--------|-------:|
| **1** | **Maltese Cross (FR)** | **9/4** | 3yo, 9-7 | 115 | William Haggas | Tom Marquand | -- |
| 2 | Pierre Bonnard (IRE) | 10/3 | 3yo, 9-2 | 116 | A P O'Brien | Wayne Lordan | 2L |
| 3 | Christmas Day (IRE) | 6/4F | 3yo, 9-7 | 118 | A P O'Brien | Ryan Moore | 2¼L (4¼L) |
| 4 | Superior Choice | 15/2 | 3yo, 9-2 | 104 | John & Thady Gosden | Shane Foley | 3¼L (7½L) |
| 5 | Galiyan | 20/1 | 3yo, 9-2 | 106 | Andrew Balding | Oisin Murphy | 13L (20½L) |
| 6 | Antigua (IRE) | 150/1 | 3yo, 9-2 | 87 | A P O'Brien | Ronan Whelan | 38L (58½L) |

*Weights are stone-pounds. Maltese Cross and Christmas Day both carried a 5lb penalty on top of the 9-2 base weight, for a Group 1 win apiece since the weights were set (the Grand Prix de Paris and the Derby respectively). The other four ran off the base 9-2.*

## How the race was run

Aidan O'Brien saddled three of the six runners. Antigua made the running as the pacemaker, with stablemates Christmas Day and Pierre Bonnard tracking in behind; Maltese Cross sat in fourth early. Once Antigua's job was done, Christmas Day was the first to make a move, but Maltese Cross was soon "quickly alongside" him and took command around two furlongs out. He stayed on well for Marquand through the final furlong. Pierre Bonnard finished fastest of the six, but Maltese Cross had done enough by then, winning by two lengths. Christmas Day, having gone for it from further back than he would have liked, had nothing more to give and faded into third.

Marquand's own reading of the race, relayed afterwards, was that the colt had gone for his run earlier than planned, drawn into the challenge by the shape of the race in front of him rather than by design.

## Reversing the Derby form

Ten weeks separate the two results, and they read almost as mirror images. At Epsom on 6 June, Christmas Day beat Maltese Cross by two and three-quarter lengths, with Ronan Whelan winning the Derby for Aidan O'Brien, his first British Classic success and the trainer's 12th Derby win, a record. At York, the placings flipped. Maltese Cross beat Christmas Day, this time by four and a quarter lengths back in third. Maltese Cross had won again in between the two meetings, taking the Grand Prix de Paris in July, so he did not arrive short of form. Christmas Day, unraced since Epsom, came to York on the strength of the Derby alone. The form book simply read differently on quicker York ground than it had on a rain-softened Epsom in June.

## Maltese Cross's route to York

This was Maltese Cross's third win of a season that has taken in two different countries. He began it with a neck win over Bay Of Brilliance in the Lingfield Derby Trial on 9 May, then went off 12/1 for the Derby itself at Epsom on 6 June, where Christmas Day beat him into second.

Five weeks later, on 14 July, he stepped up to Group 1 company and won the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp, beating Ancient Egypt by a head at odds of 14/5 on good to firm ground. That win is what brought the 5lb penalty he carried at York. A Sea The Stars colt, bred in France and trained in England by Haggas, he arrived at the Voltigeur unbeaten in one start since Epsom. Haggas, watching him confirm that Longchamp form back on English ground, called it "a Group 1 performance."

## What a Voltigeur win is worth

The Great Voltigeur is widely regarded as the season's premier trial for the St Leger, and its record backs that up. Fifteen horses have won both races, from Premonition in 1953 to Continuous, the most recent, in 2023. No Voltigeur winner has completed the double since. Los Angeles won the 2024 Voltigeur but was never declared for that year's Leger, and Jan Brueghel took the race instead. Last year's winner, Pride Of Arras, could not even be entered: like Deauville Legend, he had since been gelded, and Scandinavia won the 2025 Leger. Two Voltigeur winners in a row failing to start at Doncaster is its own reminder that the trial guides the market more than it guarantees a result.

The race has produced plenty of high-class form even without the Leger double. Cracksman won the 2017 Voltigeur and went on to be rated the best three-year-old in the world that year, then added the Champion Stakes twice, the Prix Ganay and the Coronation Cup over the following two seasons. Deauville Legend, the 2022 winner, could not run in the Leger as a gelding. He started favourite for the Melbourne Cup instead. The form this race produces travels well beyond Doncaster.

## Where Haggas points him next

Haggas was in no hurry to commit after the race. The St Leger is a race worth respecting in its own right, he said, and "let's not be hasty and make decisions today." He added that "the ground in Paris is likely to be slower than today," a comment that points at least as much towards the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp on 4 October as it does towards the St Leger at Doncaster on 12 September. Owner George Waud struck a similar note: "William Haggas is the maestro obviously and we'll make our minds up in the next few days, I would have thought. I do like France."

## The scalp: Christmas Day and the O'Brien pair

Aidan O'Brien has more reason than most to take the Voltigeur result seriously. "I was very happy with both horses... we're delighted with ours. I would imagine they will both point towards the St Leger," he said of Pierre Bonnard and Christmas Day. Pierre Bonnard's second, closing fastest of the six runners to go down by two lengths, is a form line his yard can build on. Christmas Day's third is a different proposition. This is the horse who won the Derby at Epsom in June under Ronan Whelan, his first British Classic success, and O'Brien's 12th Derby win, an outright record for the trainer. One below-par run over quicker ground does not erase that. It does leave a question for the St Leger market to answer before Doncaster: on the evidence of York, Maltese Cross now looks the one setting the pace among this year's middle-distance three-year-olds.

For the wider week, see the [Ebor Festival 2026 results hub](/racing-news/ebor-festival-2026-results/), and for the result of the race run later on the same card, see our [Juddmonte International 2026 result](/racing-news/juddmonte-international-2026-result/).

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