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Godolphin’s WS Cox Plate contender Benbatl has won a Group One event in Germany to set up his pending clash with Winx in Melbourne.

Benbatl will head to Melbourne in top form after the Saeed bin Suroor–trained star won Sunday’s G1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis-Bayerisches Zuchtrennen over 2000m in Munich.

Sent off the 13-10 favourite, Benbatl was never under any great pressure at any stage from his eight rivals, stretching away in the closing stages to win by 2 3/4 lengths.

The Dubawi 4YO took his record to six wins from 13 starts when he beat the well-credentialled Group winners Stormy Atlantic and Va Bank and last year’s winner Iquitos in his first outing since he raced at Royal Ascot six weeks ago.

Benbatl is one of the most talented gallopers in Saeed’s yard, having finished fifth in the G1 Epsom Derby and second in York’s G2 Dante Stakes before he won the G3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot as a three-year-old.

This year the son of Dubawi won three of his four starts, all over 1800m, at Meydan in Dubai including the G1 Dubai Turf prior to being shipped back to the UK.

He disappointed when 10th in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot but bounced back on Sunday with Oisin Murphy in the saddle.

Murphy had partnered Benbatl to victory in the Dubai Turf.

Saeed bin Suroor said prior to Sunday’s race that it would act as Benbatl’s stepping stone to a clash with Australia’s champion mare Winx in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on October 27.

“It is possible he could have one more run before going into quarantine for the trip to Australia,” he said.

The trainer had been concerned about the heat in Germany after 40 degree temperatures in the days before the race.

“It was hotter than Dubai at this time of the year,” he said.

Saeed bin Suroor’s best previous Cox Plate result was a third with Grandera in 2002.

The international build up to this year’s Cox Plate now turns to Chicago in the US for the running of the G1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington on Sunday week.

The Secretariat Stakes is the race that Aiden O’Brien has used to set up his past Cox Plate assaults with Adelaide in 2014 and Highland Reel in 2015.

Both horses won the Secretariat Stakes (2000m) before travelling to Melbourne.

Adelaide became O’Brien’s first G1 winner in Australia when he won the Cox Plate in 2014 while Highland Reel finished third behind Winx in 2015.

O’Brien has seven nominations for this year’s Secretariat Stakes – Amedeo Modigliani, Kew Gardens, Rostropovich, Seahenge, The Pentagon, Threeandfourpence and Zabriskie.

Poet’s Word, one of the first 13 international horses invited to contest this year’s Cox Plate by the Moonee Valley Racing Club, won Saturday’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

However he is not a candidate for Melbourne as his trainer Sir Michael Stoute has other priorities with the Juddmonte International at York next month and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October on his agenda.