No Ascot return for Goliath on Champions Day as Francis Graffard maps out ambitious Japan Cup plan

Runaway King George winner Goliath will not be heading back to Ascot in October for the Qipco Champion Stakes, with trainer Francis Graffard and owners John Stewart and Philip Baron von Ullmann mapping out an ambitious plan to take in the Group 1 Preis von Europa in Cologne en route to the Japan Cup on November 24. 

Goliath, who was trading as low as 6-1 for the Champion Stakes, was not among the five names left in this weekend's Prix Foy after the forfeit stage on Wednesday morning, and Graffard confirmed he will reappear a week later at Cologne racecourse, a few miles down the road from his birthplace at the Gestut Schlenderhan.

"The idea is to run at Cologne the weekend after this," said Graffard. "The main objective is the Japan Cup and the timing of the Preis von Europa is not bad from that point of view if we want to run him again before Tokyo.