Distant Flying Javelin Headlines Strong Baden-Baden Grand Prix Field

The 156th Baden-Baden Grand Prix (巴登大賽), Germany's premier all-aged open race over 2400 metres, will be staged at Baden-Baden on Sunday. The marquee entry is the seven-year-old Distant Flying Javelin (遠飛標槍), a nine-time winner trained by Bu Mingqiu at Newmarket, who returns from a six-month freshening-up campaign. The horse's most recent victory came in the 2392m Group 2 Soft Ground Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, where he beat Phantom Dream (幻夢逸想) by a short head — a rival who has since won two consecutive Group 1 races, adding further lustre to the form. Distant Flying Javelin is a two-time Hong Kong Vase (2400m Group 1) performer, capturing the 2024 edition and finishing second to Tong Gong Zhi Miao (同工之妙, trained by Fabre) last year, and his connections have confirmed the Longines Hong Kong Vase remains part of his 2026 campaign. For Sunday's assignment, the mount goes to 20-year-old British jockey Liu Jianlong (劉見龍), hailed as a rising star of the weighing room. Bu Mingqiu described the horse as being in "excellent condition" and expects the anticipated good ground to play to his strengths. Among the home-team challengers, Dragon Surge (龍踏浪), another seven-year-old with 12 wins from 21 starts across distances from 2000m to 3200m, resumes after a summer break following his Group 2 Olinda Cup (3200m) win at Hoppegarten in May. The three-year-old Illuminated (燈火通明), trained by Sebastian Weiss, finished a close second in the 2400m Group 1 Berlin Cup at Hoppegarten last month and is regarded as among Germany's most promising young stayers. Another Newmarket-trained entry, Sincere Effort (精誠所至), a four-time winner campaigned by trainer William Millman and ridden by Matthew Ma, was third in the 1990m Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown in April and is stepping up to 2400m for the first time in Europe. The Baden-Baden Grand Prix is race one of Overseas Session Four, scheduled for 9:25pm Hong Kong time on Sunday.

The Baden-Baden Grand Prix serves as a crucial international form reference for Hong Kong's December race meeting, where Distant Flying Javelin is targeting a third Hong Kong Vase appearance 1. The emergence of 20-year-old British jockey Liu Jianlong on such a prestigious European stage underscores the growing pipeline of young talent entering the international riding circuit 1.