alkaased recorded his first group race win on his five-year-old debut at newmarket on 1 may. starting the 2/1 favourite, he won the jockey club stakes, beating gamut by one and a half lengths, with bandari third and warrsan fourth. a month later, alkaased moved up to group one level for the first time and started favourite for the coronation cup at epsom downs racecourse. he was restrained in last by fortune in the early stages and by the time he moved into contention in the straight yeats had already established a decisive lead. alkaased finished second, beaten two and a half lengths by the irish colt: fortune never rode the horse again. three weeks later, alkaased raced outside the united kingdom for the first time when he was sent to france to contest the grand prix de saint-cloud. ridden by frankie dettori he started at odds of 6/1 in a field of eleven which included yeats, bago, and elvstroem. dettori held up alkaased towards the back of the field before moving up on the inside rail to take second place entering the straight. he overtook the pacemaker imago mundi 300 metres from the finish and went clear to win by two lengths from policy maker, with bago finishing third ahead of elvstroem. after the race, luca cumani said "we are already thinking about the arc de triomphe with a run before in the prix foy. we will have to think about the king george now and i will be speaking with the owner but he is a horse that must have good or firmer ground to show his best".