Great Voltigeur Stakes 2026 Result: Maltese Cross Reverses Derby Form

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, and for the result of the race run later on the same card, see our Juddmonte International 2026 result.

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