Scuderia La Tesa's Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), a winner of the G2 Yorkshire Cup S. in May, will not travel for the G1 Melbourne Cup in November, with connections considering the G2 Long Distance Cup at Ascot instead, trainer Marco Botti revealed.
“He's in good form and has come out of the race at York in fine shape, but we're not going to Australia,” said Botti. “There were a few niggling problems and it's not going to happen this year unfortunately.
“Hopefully next year if we still have him and everything is going well then we can think about it as the Melbourne Cup is a race the owners would love to go for, and the race and the track would suit him as he seems to go on left-handed tracks.”
Botti is on weather watch regarding the 4-year-old's bid on QIPCO British Champions Day, with softer conditions unlikely to suit Giavellotto. After his York triumph, he ran fifth in the G1 Goodwood Cup S. to Quickthorn (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in August and was most recently third in the G2 Lonsdale Cup S. back at York at the end of that month.
“We'll keep an eye on the weather as he will only go to Ascot if the ground is not too soft,” he added. “Good to soft is fine, but he wouldn't want to run on anything softer than that. If he doesn't go to Ascot we'll just put him away for the winter.
“We haven't discussed plans for next year with the owners yet. I wouldn't rule out going back to [the] Dubai World Cup night for the G2 Gold Cup, but let's see how he winters and how he is after a nice break.”
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