The 3-year-old Full Drago (Ity) (Pounced), third in the G1 Derby Italiano May 25 and a brilliant winner of the G2 Premio Federico Tesio four weeks ago, is the only Italian-trained runner in the field of seven contesting the G1 Gran Premio Del Jockey Club on Sunday. The ground at San Siro is heavy following three days of rain and Full Drago, according the official charts, has never run over ground slower than good-to-soft. Jockey Umberto Rispoli said, however, “forget about the charts; they made a big mistake. When I rode him in the Listed Gran Premio D'Italia the ground was heavy and we ran it in a hailstorm. Full Drago handled the extreme conditions and won well. He was unlucky when third in the Derby Italiano.”
Trainer Sir Michael Stoute will have his first runner in Italy since 2002 with Arab Spring (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}). The 6-year-old entire has won a pair of Group 3s and got beaten in the closing stages in the G3 Cumberland Lodge S. Oct. 1 at Ascot. Frankie Dettori will look for a sixth win in the Jockey Club with the veteran.
Another Italian jockey, Cristian Demuro, is back home for the Jockey Club. He got the call for Ventura Storm (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), who was second in the G1 St Leger Sept. 10. Dylan Mouth (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) won the Jockey Club in 2014 and ran second last year. The 5-year-old entire moved to Marco Botti's yard at Newmarket during the winter and scored in the G2 Gran Premio Di Milano. He was disappointing in his two subsequent starts, in the G1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud and Grosser Preis von Baden.
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