O’brien: Amedeo could be anything

Cheltenham may still be fresh in the mind but focus has soon switched to the 2018 Flat season. Doncaster opens the domestic campaign on Saturday while the Irish begin at Naas a day later.

Aidan O’brien, who enjoyed a record-breaking season in 2017, hosted an open day at Ballydoyle yard yesterday and his team are yet again packed with young talent.

The trainer has high hopes for Amedeo Modigliani, of whom he said: “He is in the ‘could be anything’ category. He’s a Galileo, he travels like a miler and goes through his work very easy. We are probably not going to go to the Guineas. We’re going to go to the Derby trials, and still won’t be sure whether he’ll get a mile and a quarter, but we’ll go that way. He’ll be an interesting horse.”

However, Saxon Warrior will head to the Guineas. “He’s done very well and is a massive physical horse. He will probably go straight to the Guineas,” the trainer said.

O’brien indicated that Clemmie is at the head of the pecking order as far as the fillies are concerned, saying: “She has had a bruise the last few days, but she’s good, and she’ll probably go straight to the Guineas. She has wintered well and we’re very happy with her.”

It may be worth heeding O’brien’s comments on the unexposed I Can Fly, who is as big as 40-1 for the 1,000 Guineas. O’brien said: “I Can Fly is a very nice filly and she could be a Guineas horse.”