Trainer Marco Botti is eyeing the Greenham Stakes for Malotru after his encouraging 2019 campaign.
Italian trainer Botti, who is based at Newmarket in the UK, believes Malotru is one of his best hopes for success this year after he won an Italian Group Three contest last year, before finishing fourth in the Gimcrack at York and then fifth in the Mill Reef at Newbury.
There are hopes he can progress in 2020 and he begun the year well, winning the Listed Spring Cup at Lingfield in February, with the Greenham, a Classic trial, a realistic next target.
The Greenham is pencilled in for either May 23 or 24 under BHA resumption plans for racing following the coronavirus pandemic and Botti is hopeful he can have a good year.
Botti said: “The original plan had been the Greenham and then the German Guineas, but those races would be very close together now as the dates have obviously changed.
“I would say that we will maybe go for the Greenham, as seven furlongs also seems to be his best trip. The horse has been fine since his last run, we’ve kept him fit enough to be ready whenever we get the green light to start racing.”
He added: “We had in mind to run him in America, in something like the Secretariat in August, so that might be the idea rather than running him in Classics in Europe.”