Caravaggio in contention for French 2000 Guineas for trainer Aidan O’Brien
Caravaggio won each of his four starts last year and was impressive when landing both the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and the National Stakes at the Curragh
CARAVAGGIO is one of five possible runners for Aidan O'Brien in the French 2000 Guineas at Deauville on Sunday.
The master of Ballydoyle landed both the 2000 Guineas with Churchill and the 1000 Guineas with Winter at Newmarket last weekend and is set to send a formidable team to France in a bid to add to his Classic tally.
Caravaggio won each of his four starts as a juvenile, including impressive displays in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and the National Stakes at the Curragh.
O'Brien's other four contenders after the first forfeit stage are Orderofthegarter, Taj Mahal, Whitecliffsofdover and Peace Envoy.
Saeed bin Suroor's Leshlaa and the Charlie Appleby-trained Salsabeel could both travel from Britain to represent Godolphin.
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The other potential challengers from this side of the Channel are Richard Hannon's The Grape Escape, South Seas from Andrew Balding's stable and the William Haggas-trained Rivet, who was runner-up to Eminent on his Craven Stakes reappearance.
The home team includes Criquette Head-Maarek's National Defense, who was a Group 1 winner as a juvenile and was runner-up to 2000 Guineas third Al Wukair in the Prix Djebel at Maisons-Laffitte.
The field for the French 1000 Guineas - the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches - was reduced to 20 following the second forfeit stage on Tuesday.
The four horses removed were O'Brien's Asking, Hannon's Promising, Lady Frankel and Sri Prada.