AIDAN O’Brien could leave 2000 Guineas runner-up Wichita and stablemate Arizona in England as he plans a double raid on the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Wichita looked the winner for much of the way in the first Classic of the season and would be well-fancied to win at Ascot, while Arizona was a disappointing eleventh.
But they could both head to the Royal Meeting and set up another clash with Pinatubo in the mile Group 1 for three-year-olds.
Travel restrictions mean O’Brien will continue to stable the pair in England rather than them travel back to Ireland and then travel across once more.
O’Brien – speaking after Love’s dominant win in the 1000 Guineas – said: “The lads will decide what we do but we were very happy with them yesterday.
“The St James’s Palace would be the obvious step for him [Wichita] and Frankie [Dettori] was very happy with him too, he thought he may sharpen up a little bit for the run too.”
Ladbrokes make Pinatubo the 11-8 favourite for the Group 1 – now set for June 20 to allow more time for horses to recover from Newmarket – with Wichita at 13-8. Arizona drifted to 12-1 following his poor run on Saturday.
O’Brien continued: “We were obviously more disappointed with Arizona but we think he’ll leave that well behind.
“He was just trapped in there a little bit and it all got a bit tricky coming down the hill. It just didn’t work for him, his programme was messed up for him and he was a bit stop and start.
“We’ll do something different with him now and we’ll readjust from now and to the next day.
“We always thought he was going to be a miler and that Wichita might get a bit further. We see how he is but it’s possible he could go to the St James’s Palace too.”
SEE ALL FREE BETS HERE
