Benbatl Returns Off Lengthy Layoff in Celebration Mile

Three-time group 1 winner Benbatl  is the star attraction this weekend and he will bid to make a winning start to his season in the tote Celebration Mile Stakes (G2), a race his jockey has won three of the last five times it has been run.

Oisin Murphy partnered Lightning Spear to consecutive victories in 2016 and 2017 before teaming up with Beat The Bank a year later.

The rider has built up a good relationship with Godolphin's leading globetrotter Benbatl, who gave him his first Royal Ascot success in the 2017 Hampton Court Stakes (G3).

Murphy has ridden him for 12 of his 22 starts and on the Racing Post's What A Shout said: "He's a special horse to me, he's a real dude. I haven't galloped him recently; they wanted me to ride him but I was up in York. 

"I'm sure he wouldn't be running if they weren't thrilled with him. He's way better than these at his best, hopefully he'll jump and I can get somewhere near the front end as that's his style of racing and hopefully he's too good for them."

On his travels Benbatl has eclipsed what both Lightning Spear and Beat The Bank have achieved by winning group 1s in Dubai, Germany, and Australia and even produced a joint-career best on Racing Post Ratings when runner-up to the supermare Winx  in the 2018 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1).

He was last seen in the Shadwell Joel Stakes (G2) at Newmarket in September when he was sent off the 7-4 favorite but could only finish third behind last year's Qipco Two Thousand Guineas (G1) winner Kameko and Regal Reality .

Benbatl is a 7-year-old now and returns to the track off the back of a 337-day absence, and his trainer Saeed bin Suroor issued a slight word of warning about him coming on for the run. 

He said: "Benbatl had a nice break earlier in the season and we decided not to take him out to Dubai because he had a hard season last year.

"This looks a good race for him over a trip that suits. He has been going well at home and is ready to get his campaign started, although we expect him to come on for his first run in almost a year."

It will be Benbatl's first run at Goodwood, although he handled the undulations of Newmarket's Rowley Mile when impressive in the 2019 Joel Stakes and wasn't disgraced at Epsom as a 3-year-old when a 3 1/2 length fifth in the Investec Derby (G1).

The son of Dubawi  was set to run in this race 12 months ago only for connections to pull him out due to unsuitable ground.

A winner in 10 of his 22 trips to the post, Benbatl has earned $7,726,701 in his career, earning group 1 scores all over the world in the 2018 Dubai Turf Sponsored By DP World (G1), Grosser Dallmayr-Preis-Bayerisches Zuchtrennen (G1), and Ladbrokes Caulfield Stakes (G1).