By Emma Berry
All eyes may be turning to Royal Ascot, but Marco Botti has set his sights a little farther down the line to Glorious Goodwood when it comes to the G2 Yorkshire Cup winner Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}).
“We want to run hm in the Goodwood Cup, so all being well he will go for that on August 1, and if he remains in good form we would like to run in the Irish St Leger. The timing would be perfect because there are six weeks between the two races,” said the trainer.
At York, the four-year-old notched a half-length victory over Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), the winner of last year's St Leger, in which Giavellotto finished third after a stewards' enquiry promoted him one place owing to him being severely hampered two furlongs from home.
Though Botti has had plenty of experience in sending runners to Australia, with Jakkalberry (Ire) having running third in the Melbourne Cup of 2012 and Dandino (GB) taking fifth a year later, Flemington is not necessarily the number one destination this autumn for Giavellotto.
“I don't think the owners would want to do that journey on their own, with all the expenses and the uncertainty,” he said. “The Melbourne Cup would depend on how it goes next time and whether we get some Australian owners interested. Otherwise in October there would be either the Prix Royal Oak or Champions Day.”
Botti said that Giavellotto had a few quiet days immediately after the Yorkshire Cup.
“You could see that it took a little bit out of him, but at the same time he has bounced back to his best and looks great,” he noted.
On avoiding the Gold Cup and a rematch with Eldar Eldarov, who is currently second-favourite for Ascot race which is over an extra half-mile, he added, “I think he stays but I am not sure that he wants to go that far. If we still have him next year we would think about the Gold Cup but I think his best trip is a mile and six [furlongs] or two miles.
“He's in great form and this [decision] allows us to give him a little bit of time and then get back to fast work in the next few weeks. Hopefully he will be in the same shape as he was in at York for Goodwood.”
Owned and bred by the Franchini family's Razza La Tesa, Giavelloto (whose name translates to 'Javelin') has been joined at Botti's Prestige Place Stables by his two-year-old half-brother from the first crop of Calyx (GB), named Calumet (Ire).
“The Franchinis had horses with my dad and my brother in Italy, and then recently they moved the horses to my cousin, Edmondo. In England they have had horses here for a while now, but never a large number: around four or five horses maximum and mainly homebreds,” Botti explained.
La Tesa, based in Brescia, around an hour from Milan, is run by Francesca Franchini, who was at York to witness the biggest win to date for her family, who bred both Giavellotto's dam Gerika (Fr) (Galileo {Ire}) and grand-dam Green Tern (Ity) (Miswaki Tern). Gerika was trained in Italy by Botti's brother, Stefano, and is a winning half-sister to the multiple Listed winners Right Connection (GB) and Donoma (Ire), both by Beat Hollow (GB).
“It was special for Francesca to win a Group 2 in England with a homebred, it was just a great result,” Botti said. “Giavellotto is quite a big, imposing horse and his brother Calumet is smaller, but he goes well. Sadly, they lost the mare this year when she foaled a nice colt by St Mark's Basilica (Fr). The foal is okay but the mare died, which was a shame as she was to be retired after that.
“That was another reason that it was so emotional for Francesca. She was in tears. They have been successful as owner-breeders in Italy but the Yorkshire Cup was their biggest success.”
He continued, “Francesca lives at the stud. She's passionate about it, and that's her life. She's there all the time. It is great that she is so involved, as sometimes with some of the old family studs there is no-one to take over, but with Francesca it is very much her passion and I'm sure she will carry on. She understands the game. She knows that things can go wrong, and she takes bad news well. She has been a great supporter of the yard. They are very nice owners to have.”
Giavellotto's earlier seasons included just one run right at the end of his juvenile year, when he made a winning debut just before Christmas over 1m3f at Kempton. He won again the following March and, following a few more placed efforts, he took his rating to 104 when running out the easy winner of a 1m6f Class 2 handicap at Newmarket. From there, it was straight to the St Leger.
“We always thought he was going to be a nice horse, even last spring, but he has really progressed,” Botti said. “The owners wanted to have a horse for the Italian Derby but when he ran at Sandown [on his third start] he showed that he needed to step up in trip. I felt that taking him to Rome to run 1m3f on a fast track wouldn't really suit him, and that was probably the right decision as it gave him the chance to progress through the summer. In the St Leger he was a bit unlucky.”
If that race feels like one that go away, there will be extra cause for cheer should Giavellotto go on to secure one of his major targets for Botti later this year.
“I'm still chasing a Group 1 winner in England,” said the trainer, whose previous stable stars have included the top-level winners Excelebration (Ire), Capla Temptress (GB), Euro Charline (GB), Tac De Boistron (Fr), Joshua Tree (Ire) and Gitano Hernando (GB).
“We've had six Group 1 wins, but they have been two in France, two in America, and two in Canada. We got so close with Excelebration a few times but we're still waiting.”
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