Scorpion set to miss Newmarket date
02/05/2006 - 17:42:10Ladbrokes St Leger winner Scorpion is unlikely to make his seasonal bow in the StanJamesUK.com Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket on Sunday.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained four-year-old has not been seen since finishing down the field in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last October but was one of 12 confirmed for the Group Two race at Headquarters at the five-day stage.
However, O’Brien said: “He probably won’t run and we will wait for either the Tattersalls Gold Cup or the Coronation Cup with him.
“He could run over a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half this season, we will just have to see how he gets on.
“He worked at half-speed over a mile and a quarter at the Curragh after racing yesterday and it went well. He could be an exciting horse this year.”
O’Brien also confirmed plans to run last year’s Coronation Cup winner Yeats over longer distances this term, although the five-year-old is unlikely to be seen in the Yorkshire Cup at the Dante meeting in two weeks’ time.
“He might not be ready for that but he will run in the Cup races this summer,” said O’Brien.
Fire And Rain, an impressive winner of his sole start in a Newmarket maiden last September, could have his first run of 2006 at Leopardstown on Sunday week.
The colt is a general 25-1 chance for the Vodafone Derby and may run in the same recognised trial as O’Brien’s Epsom winners High Chaparral and Galileo, the sire of Fire And Rain.
”We will look at the Derrinstown Derby Trial for him but that is only a possible at this stage,” added O'Brien.
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