156th Casino Baden-Baden Goldene Peitsche (Group 3)
Baden Baden - 30th August 2026
“From the available data, I would have to say that the winner ran close to a career best and he would have to be high on the shortlist next time if he is kept to this 1,200m trip”.
It seems that everywhere we look at present, the winners are wearing the Wathnan Racing silks. Having landed Saturday’s Draftkings Travers Stakes in the US with Leading Change, the Wathnan team were celebrating further success in Germany on Sunday as Holguin ran out a relatively comfortable winner of the Goldene Peitsche under Faleh Bughenaim. Already a 2 time winner at Listed level at Chester, Holguin was last seen finishing 5th behind Lake Forest in the Lennox Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. Although this was his first success in Group 3 company, he has run some very respectable races at this level in the past and certainly wasn’t winning this race out of turn. Although only 5th at Goodwood, he was within half a second of the winner when they crossed the line and having raced alongside the far rail on the inside of the group, he was perhaps on the slower part of the track. He wouldn’t have beaten Lake Forest on the day, who was worthy winner of the Lennox, but it was a promising run and the drop back to 1,200m at Baden Baden, with a strong early pace to track, was the perfect set up for this son of Havana Grey.
This was his first start over the distance since 2022, but it really seemed to suit Holguin and it may well open up some further options for Hamad Al Jehani and Wathnan Racing going forwards. The early pace was a strong one and the leaders reached the halfway point in under 35s. That allowed Holguin time to gather his stride and having sat behind that early pace, he found plenty when asked to go and win his race, cutting through the gaps at the 300m point with a race best late speed figure of 62.2 km/h. Each of his in-race speed metrics shown on the infographic above were faster than the TPD expected average figures for a winner of this race and having cleared away to win by nearly 2 lengths, Holguin rounded off this impressive display with a race best run-out speed of 57.1 km/h. Given that he has proven class over the 1,400m trip in the UK, it is perhaps not surprising that he was finishing strongly, but with such a fast early pace, I think we can still upgrade the performance of Holguin for the way that he managed to stay in touch with the early leaders. At an average of 7.5m, he had one of the longest stride length figures in the field and that certainly helped him to close when he was asked to, but having shown how versatile he is, it’s not impossible to think that his connections may be able to find other opportunities for him now over the shorter distances. The runner-up, Bacardi, has hit the frame in several Listed races in Germany already this year and the 3rd placed Lamborghini Bf is a multiple winner in Scandinavia and finished a very respectable 6th in the King George Stakes at Goodwood behind American Affair on his penultimate start. The form book would suggest that this was a relatively strong renewal of this race and the right horses certainly came to the fore in the closing stages. Taking that into account, the fact that Holguin was able to dominate the race and come out on top with his data too would suggest that the form can be trusted. From the available data, I would have to say that Holguin ran close to a career best and he would have to be high on the shortlist next time if he is kept to this 1,200m trip.