Marco Botti

The G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches is likely to be the next port of call for Folgaria (Ire) (Due Diligence) following her victory in the G3 Fred Darling S. at Newbury on Saturday, her sixth victory from as many starts following an unbeaten two-year-old campaign in Italy when trained by Stefano Botti. Now in the care of Stefano's brother, Marco Botti, Folgaria was a welcome winner for the team at Prestige Place which has been mourning the death of the stable's former apprentice, Stefano Cherchi, following a fall in Australia...

A person whose job it is to promote horse racing was, rather disappointingly, being sniffy about the Craven meeting on social media last week. I understand that some people don't like racing at the Rowley Mile and, yes, last Tuesday in particular was a little challenging on the weather front. But if you're a Flat racing person, and particularly one who is being paid to tell other people that they should come racing, then you really should appreciate all that is wonderful about these weeks of Classic trials across Europe....

Scuderia Sagam's Folgaria (Ire) (Due Diligence--Full Moon Fever {Ire}, by Azamour {Ire}) went undefeated through a five-race juvenile campaign for Stefano Botti last year and, now under the stewardship of that trainer's brother Marco, retained her perfect record with a hard-fought triumph in Saturday's G3 Dubai Duty Free S. (Fred Darling S.) at Newbury. The February-foaled bay backed up a debut win at Milan's San Siro in May with a brace of Listed contests at Rome's Capanelle and back in Milan. She went on sabbatical after collecting July's G3 Premio...

Racing has been rocked by the news that jockey Stefano Cherchi, 23, has died from the injuries sustained in a fall at Canberra, Australia, two weeks ago. The former apprentice to Marco Botti had been riding Hasime in the third race at Canberra when his mount fell. A statement released on Wednesday morning by NSW Jockeys on X, previously known as Twitter, read, "With deep sadness, the Cherchi family have announced their beloved son Stefano passed away peacefully today. "The family are very grateful for the love, prayers & messages sent...

In Newmarket the rain is pouring and the sun, if it still exists, is being defiantly reclusive. But just one small click on a Zoom link and suddenly there is a backdrop of endless blue sky, and in the foreground the smiling face of Lucie Botti, back in Dubai for her umpteenth winter and looking understandably pleased to have escaped the English weather. Botti is of course married to Newmarket trainer Marco Botti, and for years their stable has had runners all over the world, but most often in Dubai...

Scuderia La Tesa's Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), a winner of the G2 Yorkshire Cup S. in May, will not travel for the G1 Melbourne Cup in November, with connections considering the G2 Long Distance Cup at Ascot instead, trainer Marco Botti revealed. "He's in good form and has come out of the race at York in fine shape, but we're not going to Australia," said Botti. "There were a few niggling problems and it's not going to happen this year unfortunately. "Hopefully next year if we still have him and...

Group-winning stayer Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), who ran third in the 2022 G1 St Leger, is under consideration for the G1 Melbourne Cup in November, trainer Marco Botti revealed. A winner of York's G2 Yorkshire Cup S. in May, Francesca Franchini's Scuderia La Tesa flagbearer was fifth in the G1 Goodwood Cup S. in early August, and improved to take third in the G2 Lonsdale Cup S. back at York later that month. Besides the Race That Stops a Nation, the 4-year-old entire holds entries in the Sept. 10 G1...

Marco Botti is hoping a decision to sidestep the Gold Cup at Ascot with Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) pays dividends when his stable star lines out in the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup in August. Promoted to third in the St Leger behind Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) last season, Giavellotto accounted for that rival in the Yorkshire Cup last month. However, Botti decided against running Giavellotto at Ascot due to the trip, and revealed that Goodwood has always been Plan A for the progressive stayer.  "Giavellotto is very well and...

All eyes may be turning to Royal Ascot, but Marco Botti has set his sights a little farther down the line to Glorious Goodwood when it comes to the G2 Yorkshire Cup winner Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}). "We want to run hm in the Goodwood Cup, so all being well he will go for that on August 1, and if he remains in good form we would like to run in the Irish St Leger. The timing would be perfect because there are six weeks between the two races," said...

Connections of 14-1 shot Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) had benefitted from the intervention of the stewards when promoted to third in the G1 St Leger in September, but they faced an anxious wait themselves before being allowed to keep Friday's G2 Boodles Yorkshire Cup. Causing notable interference to the tiring Quickthorn (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) as he assumed command late on under Andrea Atzeni, Scuderia La Tesa's Marco Botti-trained homebred had half a length to spare over the penalised Leger hero Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) at the line, with Broome...

Haskoy (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), the filly that crossed the wire second in the G1 Cazoo St Leger and was demoted to fourth for inference, will remain in that position after connections lost their appeal on Tuesday. The Juddmonte homebred, with Frankie Dettori in the irons, was deemed to have caused interference to Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) of a sufficient nature to place her behind that Marco Botti-trained colt, the raceday stewards determined. During the appeal hearing, two incidents were looked into by the independent disciplinary panel of the British...

Following a decision taken at a meeting of the Deutscher Galopp board on Monday night, German races will remain closed to international starters from nations which currently do not allow foreign runners. This will include the first Classic of the German season, the G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (2000 Guineas), which is set to be run on Monday at Cologne. A statement released on the German racing authority's website read, "Deutscher Galopp is clearly and unreservedly committed to an open Europe. The free movement between partnered racing nations is a cornerstone of thoroughbred...