WE may not have a Group 1 in Britain or Ireland this weekend, but we have a Group 1 horse running in the shape of the globetrotting Benbatl, who takes on the Group 2 tote Celebration Mile (3:35) at Goodwood today.

The Godolphin horse has top level victories to his name in Germany, Australia and Dubai. However, his trainer Saeed Bin Suroor, who is enjoying a very good season, was keen to express caution with regard to expectations for his comeback run today.

“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,” Bin Suroor told godolphin.com.

“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.”

Benbatl is reunited with Oisín Murphy, who is more confident the favourite can oblige on what will be just his second start in 545 days. The Kerry native, well clear in the jockeys’ championship this year, rode the seven-year-old to win two of his Group 1s and Benbatl also gave him his first Royal Ascot success.

“I love the horse and he seems in really good shape. He’s very healthy and very generous in his gallops,” the champion jockey told Racing TV.

“I know he’s been off for a while and you’d expect him to improve for the run, but he’s a superstar and at his best he’ll take a lot of beating.

“I hope the weather is kind, he doesn’t want slow ground, fast ground is key to seeing him at his best. I can’t tell you how much I adore the horse. He was my first Royal Ascot winner, I rode him in the Derby when he didn’t stay but some of his figures throughout his career have been outstanding.”

Benbatl is likely to have most to do from Chindit and Mutasaabeq, two three-year-olds who ran in the 2000 Guineas earlier this year. However our betting experts Donn McClean and Rory Delargy have both gone for bigger priced alternatives and you can read their rationale on pages 50-51.

TRUTH be told, Tabdeed has been a little disappointing this season. The Shadwell-owned colt was rated a live contender for last season’s Sprint Cup after his win in the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury, but he disappointed at Haydock.

The soft going was given as a reason for that poor run and connections are likely to have been aiming for another Group 1 sprint on quicker ground but Tabdeed has yet to convince he deserves that shot, for all that he hasn’t run badly on his two starts this season.

He takes on the Close Brothers Hopeful Stakes (2:45) today, a listed contest which represents a drop in class for him, and his trainer Owen Burrows is hopeful he can get off the mark for the year.

He said: “Tabdeed ran very well when trying to defend his Hackwood Stakes crown and he was only beaten in a photo.

“He is not quite a Group 1 sprinter, though the ground was heavy in the Sprint Cup at Haydock when he raced at that level last season but that is twice he has disappointed on soft ground.

“This year he has been in a good place as we are normally treading on egg shells hence why he hasn’t had many races in his career. It is good to firm and in an ideal world it would be good but they do a good job with the track at Newmarket.

Tabdeed’s chief rival looks to be Khaadem, who also sports the Shadwell blue and white, and interestingly wears blinkers for the first time. His trainer Charlie Hills explained: “He worked well in blinkers the other day so we thought we may as well give him a go in them.

“He ran over seven furlongs last time and I think he did see it out but with the blinkers on we thought it best to bring him back to six furlongs.”

TWO races from Beverley will be broadcast live on ITV4 today including the Listed Beverley Bullet Stakes (3:15), in which the previous two winners and also closely-matched rivals Dakota Gold and Judicial meet.

Judicial, Julie Camacho’s nine-year-old, won this in 2019 and showed he is operating at his very best when two lengths too good for Dakota Gold in a listed contest at Chester last time out.

“This has been the plan since he won at Chester really, we knew August was going to be a big month for him and we’re looking forward to it,” Steve Brown, Camacho’s partner and assistant, told Sky Sports Racing.

“First time out this year he lost a shoe in the Palace House so we could explain that, but clearly his second run was disappointing, so it was nice to see him bounce back at Chester. I would say he’s gone away from wanting really fast ground, he certainly handles more juice in the ground these days.”