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Ascot Gold Cup next for star five-year-old Caballo De Mar

Caballo De Mar will head straight to the Royal Ascot Gold Cup, following his second-placed effort in the Sagaro Stakes.

by
Callum Close
11 May 2026

Caballo De Mar will head straight to the Royal Ascot Gold Cup, following his second-placed effort in the Sagaro Stakes.

The star five-year-old was making his first start in Britain since he finished eighth in what remains his latest Handicap run, at Haydock, back in September.

Caballo De Mar finished behind renowned stayer Sweet William in that race, a run that followed his second-placed effort in a Group Two race at Meydan, on his only other start in 2026.

Racing manager for owners Victorious Forever Billy Jackson-Stops told At The Races: “The pinnacle is the Ascot Gold Cup so we’ll just focus on that, get that out of the way and then make a plan after that.”

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Lightly raced

Trainer George Scott’s gelding was conceding weight to the winner of the Sagaro Stakes, though only a short head beat him and he remains very lightly campaigned in Group races.

Jackson-Stops said: “Mathematically thinking if we step up in trip and go off level weights we could not have been happier with that run.

“We think we’d do better to go further and obviously the 2lb difference would put us ahead. He’s really exciting.”

Group One winner

Caballo De Mar was making only his fifth start in a Group race – his first in Britain – having already won a Group One contest at Longchamp in October, run over 2.5 miles.

He is priced at around 12/1 to win the Royal Ascot Gold Cup and he is set to take on last season’s elite such as Scandinavia and Lambourn, as well as seasoned veteran Trawlerman.

Jackson-Stops added: “In regards that he will give us a fantastic opportunity at Ascot, he could be that horse and he’s just improving run to run and he’ll go straight to Ascot.

“For us from our numbers he ran his best race to date in the Sagaro.

“He’s proving himself against some pretty decent opposition now, so I think he’s just getting better and better and I think he could be really exciting.”