All options open to brave Benbatl after German triumph

Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor says all options are open to Benbatl, who underlined his class when making virtually all in Sunday’s G1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis-Bayerisches Zuchtrennen in Munich ,Germany.

The four-year-old son of Dubawi put behind him a disappointing run in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, which the trainer attributed to the fast ground.

On a surface officially termed Good, Benbatl this time made no mistake, drawing away to beat the useful Stormy Antarctic and Va Bank, with last year’s Dallmayr winner Iquitos a respectable fourth without ever looking a danger to the winner.

Godolphin accepted an early invitation to run Benbatl in the G1 Cox Plate in Melbourne in October, but Saeed is not ruling out any plan at this stage.

“I will talk to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed about where Benbatl should run. 

We will look at York’s G1 Juddmonte International as well as the G1 Irish Champion Stakes. We will look at all the options,” Saeed pointed out.

“Benbatl won very well. We have always known he is a high class horse and he is proving it on the racecourse. His win in the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan was excellent and he has reproduced that form in Europe,” the trainer pointed out.

Benbatl has matured into a G1 horse of the highest order and looks set to continue his climb to the top in races over a mile and a quarter.