French Guineas Plan For Caravaggio

Aidan O'Brien appears unlikely to ask Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) to take on stable-mate Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket May 6 with the French version a week later the likeliest objective for last year's G2 Coventry S. winner. “At the moment everything is going according to plan [with Caravaggio] and the French Guineas is what we're looking at,” O'Brien told At The Races. Caravaggio was four from four as a juvenile and capped his season with a win in the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. at The Curragh in August, though he was prevented from adding to that tally in the G1 Juddmonte Middle Park S. due to a muscle strain which kept him off the track for the remainder of the season. He could be joined in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at Deauville May 13 by stable-mate Orderofthegarter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who has impressed in two starts this year having been runner up on both juvenile outings last season. “Orderofthegarter probably won't go to Newmarket. He could go to the French Guineas and the Irish Guineas, or something like that,” O'Brien added. Despite some impressive trials over the last week from Eminent (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Barney Roy (GB) (Excelebration {Ire}), Ballydoyle's Churchill remains strong at the head of the market for the first Classic of the season and his trainer feels he is bang on target for the race. “He's fine and everything is going according to plan. It's basic enough really. He'll have his normal everyday canters and a couple of half-speeds. It's very straightforward.”