Chaparral back at the Curragh

Dual Derby winner High Chaparral looks set to make his debut as a four-year-old at the Curragh on Sunday.

Big things were expected of the Aidan O’Brien-trained colt this season, but a bruised shoulder sustained earlier in the year has taken longer than initially thought to recover and his reappearance has been delayed as a result.

He has been pencilled in for the Royal Whip Stakes over 10 furlongs at the weekend, although his trainer has warned that he will improve considerably for his run in the Group Two contest.

“He’s a long way off what he was at his peak last year,” O’Brien told The Daily Telegraph.

“But he has been working along nicely, and has been just showing enough to run. He’ll take a couple of runs to get back to his best.”

O’Brien added that no long-term plan had been made.

“We’re not looking at any race in particular,” he said. “We just want to get him back on the racecourse first.”

High Chaparral beat stablemate Hawk Wing by two lengths when taking the Vodafone Derby last June.

He followed up with an easy success in the Irish equivalent on his next start before finishing third to Marienbard and Sulamani in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October.

His last start came in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Arlington later that month when he beat With Anticipation by one and three-quarter lengths.