Marco Botti intends to freshen up his globetrotting star Giavellotto for a tilt at the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
The Newmarket handler is preparing to give the well-travelled seven year old his first ever appearance at the Royal meeting in the prestigious Group Two test.
Since winning the Group Three Unibet September Stakes at Kempton Park in September the Mastercraftsman gelding has raced exclusively abroad.
After finishing fourth in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, Giavellotto followed that display up with respectable efforts defeat in the Longines Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin, the H.H Amir Trophy in Doha and the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic in Meydan.
But having campaigned his stable star abroad in recent months Botti is looking forward to getting him back in action in Britain.
Botti said: “We will freshen him up now for the Hardwicke Stakes and go straight there. Even in defeat in his last four runs he has picked up over a million pounds in prizemoney so we can’t complain.
“I said to his owners after Dubai let’s freshen him up and go to Royal Ascot. He last ran at the track as a three-year-old. It gives him a little bit more time between his races. We wouldn’t rule out taking him for a gallop or something like that.
"He always runs his best race fresh. Hong Kong was in December, then in February he went to Qatar and then he went to Dubai in March, which is quite a lot."
And Botti believes stablemate Prince Of India can still make his mark at pattern race level despite failing to feature in the Group Three Zyn Abernant Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday. But a drop back to handicap company for the Wootton Bassett colt could beckon first with Botti eyeing up the £50,000 Caffreys Black Stout King Richard III Cup Handicap at Leicester on Saturday.
He added: “Prince Of India was a bit disappointing in the Abernant as I don’t think he loves that track. He won on the July Course, but that is a different story.
“In the Abernant he stumbled, and he lost a bit of his action. He was then always on the backfoot. They then quickened into the dip and it wasn’t until he met the rising ground that he stayed on.
“It has been a bit disappointing that the last couple of runs haven’t gone to plan, but I think he is better than that.
“We are trying to regain some confidence. We might run him in a valuable handicap at Leicester on Saturday as that is a stiff six there so we haven’t ruled that out. Hopefully we can get him back to where he was last year as he looked like a horse that this year could be his best year.”
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