There’s Still Time

Touted as one of Ballydoyle’s leading Derby candidates this spring, Giovanni Canaletto (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) looks to keep the dream alive and book a late ticket to Epsom in The Curragh’s G3 Airlie Stud Gallinule S. on Sunday. Ruled out of Chester due to a bad scope, the full-brother to the 2013 blue riband hero Ruler of the World (Ire) has been off since breaking his maiden by 6 1/2 lengths at Leopardstown in October, but remains in the wings with some of the stable’s leading Derby prospects falling by the wayside. “It will be interesting to see how it goes, as we always thought he was a nice horse,” commented Aidan O’Brien, who is just two shy of Dr Vincent O’Brien’s record of 15 winners of this. “He was still very babyish the second time and we were looking forward to going to Chester, as we felt he had a lot to learn in a short space of time, but he scoped wrong and had a little break.” Giovanni Canaletto’s mettle will be tested by some useful types, including J P McManus’s Clonard Street (GB) (Archipenko), who was runner-up in the G2 Beresford S. here in September. Subsequently disappointing when last of six in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud in November, he sports a hood for the first time and is joined by the tough May 12 Killarney conditions scorer Bertie Le Belge (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}).