Coronation Cup date pencilled in for Alpinista

Triple Group One winner Alpinista will head straight to the Coronation Cup without a prep run, according to trainer Sir Mark Prescott.

The Kirsten Rausing-owned five-year-old mare improved with age and held all before her last season, winning all five starts, including the Group Two Lancashire Oaks at Haydock, before reeling off a trio of top-class victories in Germany – beating subsequent Arc hero Torquator Tasso in August.

She has not been seen since taking the Group One Grosser Prix Von Bayern at Munich in early November.

The daughter of Frankel who has earned over £425,000 in prize money, winning seven of her 12 starts, will return to the scene of her debut success at Epsom, on June 3, for the Coronation Cup.

Prescott said: “She is fine and we intend to run her in the Coronation Cup.

“We have no intention of running her before – but as you know, it always goes wrong – our intention is to start in the Coronation Cup and end in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and what we do in between we are not quite certain, but that is the aim.

“I don’t think she is particularly ground dependent, but I would avoid extremes.”