Botti harbours high hopes for Tatsumaki

Winter break looms – but Horris Hill is an option.

Marco Botti is pondering the possibility of one more run this season for Tatsumaki – but is more likely to put the unbeaten juvenile away until next year.

Tatsumaki was in a different league to his 27 rivals in a valuable sales race at Newmarket on Saturday.

That victory stretched his perfect record to three – and Botti already has his mind cast forward to a Guineas trial in the spring.

“There is a Group Three at Newbury on October 23 (Horris Hill Stakes), but I’ll chat with the owners and we’ll decide what to do,” said the Newmarket trainer.

“It’s at the end of the season, so I doubt there’s anything else. I don’t think he’s ready for a Breeders’ Cup or anything at that level yet, so if that is the case we’ll probably wrap him up and put him away.

“As for next year, we think he’ll get an extra furlong or two. He doesn’t look like a sprinter, he looks more like a miler – and we started him off over seven furlongs.

“This was a valuable race – a stiff six at Newmarket was fine, and it worked out quite well. Potentially he could be a really nice horse next year.

“We haven’t got a set plan for next season. We can’t say he’s going to be a Guineas horse or anything, but he’s earned the right to run in a trial at least.

Tatsumaki hit the front a long way from home leaving 27 rivals in his wake
Tatsumaki hit the front a long way from home leaving 27 rivals in his wake (Tim Goode/PA)

“You normally need a Group horse to win that sort of race, and you see the second (Fearby) is rated over 100. We were confident he’d run well, and (jockey) Neil Callan was very positive about him.

“I was worried in the first part of the race, because the plan was to get cover, but Neil said he was travelling so powerfully he didn’t want to break his stride – and he found an extra gear going into the dip.”

Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.

Latest