Johnston retains Monterosso faith

Monterosso will enjoy a short holiday after being beaten into fourth in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby yesterday.

The Dubawi colt was sent off favourite for the Curragh Classic following his impressive success in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, but was ultimately unable to land a blow as Cape Blanco led home a one-two-three for Aidan O’Brien.

Mark Johnston feels his charge was perhaps caught out in the middle part of the race before plugging on again at the finish and he believes there is still plenty to look forward to for the remainder of the campaign.

“He hasn’t arrived back home yet but I believe everything is fine with him this morning,” said Johnston.

“Only time will tell if it was a bridge too far for him or whether the race just came too soon after Ascot, but having watched the race back, he really did make up an awful lot of ground.

“As is often the case, Aidan’s horses rather dictated the pace of the race and perhaps we were caught a little bit too far back.

“He was still only beaten three lengths and I think he must have made up 20 lengths in the straight. He shot his bolt a little bit early.

“We haven’t made any definite plans with him but he’ll certainly have a break now.”

The three-year-old is a best priced 12-1 with Coral for the St Leger at Doncaster in September but Johnston admits he would have some concern about the extra couple of furlongs.

“I suppose it would be a possibility but there would be a question mark about the trip,” the trainer added.

“We’ll just have to see what happens later in the year.”