'The Irish St Leger has always been the plan' - Marco Botti targeting Group 1 glory after Giavellotto's Princess of Wales's success

Marco Botti is dreaming of Irish St Leger glory with Giavellotto after the dual Yorkshire Cup winner showed plenty of speed to go with his proven stamina to score a stylish victory in the Group 2 Princess of Wales's Stakes.

Despite carrying a penalty for his latest success at York and racing over a trip short of 1m6f for the first time in more than two years, Giavellotto brushed aside the St Leger runner-up Arrest, Frankel's daughter Time Lock and 11-10 favourite Hamish to take his career prize-money earnings to the cusp of £700,000.

Botti has long felt the Comer Group-backed Irish St Leger at the Curragh on September 15 would be an ideal fit for Giavellotto and, providing the ground does not turn too testing in Ireland, he sees no reason to alter the five-year-old's plans. 

“The Irish St Leger has always been the plan and I think today was a stepping stone towards that as long as the ground doesn’t go too soft," said Botti. “Heavy ground would be a concern and it can happen in September at the Curragh, but at the same time he's versatile and I'm looking forward to it. 

Marco Botti (right) and groom Dilwah Singh with Giavellotto after the Princess of Wales's StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

"Last season we planned his campaign around running him over two miles but it was just stretching him over that trip. He is stronger this year so probably has more speed than last year and dropping back to a mile and a half was never going to be a problem – I was confident he was going to show his best today."

Owned by Scuderia La Tesa Limited and Vaibhav Shah, Giavellotto started the season with solid efforts in Saudi Arabia and Dubai and has looked as good as ever since returning to Botti's stable in Newmarket.  

"He's definitely getting more mature mentally and is in the form of his life," the trainer added. "He travelled so well into the race and Oisin Murphy said it was only a matter of having to press the button and the horse picked up straight away and ran strongly to the line. I thought it was a good performance and he showed he is definitely at his best this year."

Victory was the middle leg of a 242-1 treble on day one of the July festival for Murphy, who was also on the mark with Sergeant Wilko and Sterling Knight, and the winning jockey felt the Curragh Classic is an ideal big-race target for Giavellotto.    

Giavellotto and Oisin Murphy are led in by Dilwah Singh after winning the Princess of Wales's StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

"He's getting more relaxed," said Murphy. "The pace wasn’t that fast and he had the opportunity to not relax for me but he was excellent. Andrea Atzeni, a close friend of mine, gave me the ride as he went to Hong Kong, so, thanks Andrea!

"I think the Irish St Leger will be the perfect race for him. It was a mile and a half today with a 3lb penalty but he travelled with supreme ability and was always in control.”

Giavellotto hit the line strong and finished three and a quarter lengths clear of Arrest, with Time Lock a further two and three quarter lengths away in third. 

Hamish, bidding to make it six wins from his last seven starts and off the back of finishing second in the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom, was a major disappointment and trailed home in fourth, beaten 15 and a half lengths by the winner.  

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