Maltese Cross storms late to win Grand Prix de Paris

Maltese Cross won the Grand Prix de Paris by a head after finding daylight late at ParisLongchamp, turning a messy trip into a Group 1 breakthrough for William Haggas. The 2,400-meter race for three-year-olds carried €600,000 in prize money, and the official order behind him was Ancient Egypt, Alam, Varandir, Space Waltz, Limestone and Causeway. His time of 2:24.79 matched the race’s third-fastest winning performance since the current version of the event was established in 2005.

For most of the straight, the Sea The Stars colt looked shut out. He was settled by Tom Marquand, but the race kept folding the wrong way for him, with fading runners in front and no clean lane along the rail. Ancient Egypt, having tracked Causeway through an early pace soft enough to invite pressure, looked to have seized control entering the straight. Maltese Cross was still sixth and next-to-last with about 350 meters to run, then squeezed between rivals once the opening finally appeared.

Marquand said the colt was “super-tough to get through the gap,” and said he had found himself a position farther back than expected. Rather than panicking when the field stacked up in front of him, Marquand kept Maltese Cross balanced long enough for the colt’s turn of foot to decide the race in the final strides.

The result gave Haggas his first victory in the Grand Prix de Paris and his second Group 1 of 2026 after Almeraq’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes win at Royal Ascot. Owner George Waud called the colt a horse with “all the ability” and “such a good brain,” and compared this payoff to the pleasure of that Epsom placing.

Haggas said Maltese Cross was “going the right way” and named the St Leger and the Arc de Triomphe as the two races under consideration. If the Arc remains the target, he said another run will likely be needed, with the York Great Voltigeur Stakes a possible stepping-stone. Bought for 350,000 guineas as a yearling by Sam Haggas, Maltese Cross now has the kind of late-running Group 1 win that makes the rest of his summer look a lot bigger than it did before the gap opened.