Philip' Back for More in Repubblica

The 2014 Italian Horse of the Year Priore Philip (Ity) (Dane Friendly {GB}) will face a crucial test Sunday at Capannelle in the form of the G1 Premio Presidente Della Repubblica, over 2000 meters. The chestnut 4-year-old, who won the (then) G1 Gran Criterium at two, looked like a good miler when prevailing in the G2 Premio Carlo Vittadini at San Siro in May of 2014 after an unlucky defeat in the G3 Italian 2000 Guineas the previous month. Priore Philip improved a lot after a summer break and collected the G1 Premio Vittorio Di Capua over 1600 meters at San Siro last September. The entire, trained by Stefano Botti, jumped into a new league with an emphatic six-length win over Cleo Fan (Ity) (Mujahid) in the G1 Premio Roma, his first start over 2000 meters, in November at Capannelle. Priore Philip set a new stakes record (1:58.47), not far from the track record established in 2002 by the International Champion Falbrav (Ire) (1:57.8), and snatched a very high mark of 120 in the International Classification. Priore Philip started his 2015 season with an ugly score in a conditions race over 1800 meters at Capannelle in which he was hard-ridden to beat Dark Sea (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), giving considerable weight to his rivals. The hot favorite usually improves a lot with a run, but his task is more complicated than at a first glance. The German raiders have a good record in the Presidente Della Repubblica with six wins in the last 19 runs. Trainer Andreas Wohler saddled two of those winners and will have an interesting candidate in Wake Forest (Ger) (Sir Percy {GB}). The lightly raced 5-year-old capped his career with a winning effort in the G3 Preis der Deutschen Einheit in October at Hoppegarten. He had a prep race in the one-mile G3 Wettmeister Fruhjahrmeile and ran much better than the bare result over a trip shorter than ideal. The second German challenger, Magic Artist (Ire)(Iffraaj (GB)), a Group 3 scorer in his country at three, kicked off his 4-year-old season with a game win in the G3 Premio Ambrosiano, over 2000 meters at San Siro Apr. 19. The Italian born, but French based jockey Cristian Demuro will team with the colt again and said, “That's up to Priore Philip, if he runs as in the Premio Roma the others have to battle for the second place. If he will be a tune down of that, my horse has a strong chance.”